Kingdom Hearts Keyblade Legion
by lyokoMARVELanime
Summary: Sequel to Dual Keys. Sora, Donald, Goofy return to the worlds after an event that caused them to have their memories modified, and they're off on a new adventure with Ven. But this time they've some new friends with them. Can Roxas and Xion help to save the worlds from this new evil group? Is there some deeper mystery surrounding the two siblings? Find out along with the new team.
1. Summer Vacation: Day 1

_**Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, cartoons and movie stars, and all other forms of life that exist in this or any crazy world, the time has finally come for the next chapter in the saga of the Keyblades Unleashed Series! This. Is. The big debut. Of... Kingdom Hearts Keyblade Legion! And now, give it up for your host, the epic builder, the crossover-crafter, the awesome lyokoMARVELanime!**_

 _ **[audience applause]**_

 _ **AN: Yeah, that's right! We back with Kingdom Hearts in the Keyblades Unleashed series baby! And speaking of said series, let's hear it for some of the main cast of this story, because our man Roxas and the lovely Xion are in da house today!**_

 _ **[audience applause as Roxas and Xion both wave hello]**_

 _ **Roxas: Glad to finally be here, and great to be in one of your stories full-time again, lyoko.**_

 _ **Xion: Same here, and I'm even more excited over the fact that I'm gonna be a good guy right from the start this time. I really hated being the villain in Keyblades of Future Past.**_

 _ **AN: So you keep telling me. Every. Single. Chance. You can.**_

 _ **Xion: [laughs sheepishly as she rubs the back of her head]**_

 _ **AN: But you know I still love ya anyway, right? Right. I mean seriously, how can someone not love Xion? Her canon story is so great, save for the very sad ending, and everyone feels like she should have gotten a better deal out of the hand she was dealt. Plus, she's just so cute! I mean, look at her! Look at this girl and tell me that you don't think she's cute!**_

 _ **Xion: [Poses with a cute expression just as the author is mentioning all of that]**_

 _ **AN: See?! Look, look, look at that! How can you not call this girl cute when you see that?**_

 _ **Roxas: All right, we get it! You've got a fanboy crush on Xion.**_

 _ **AN: Do not, and you really shouldn't criticize, player.**_

 _ **Roxas: Hey! I am NOT a player! Why would you...**_

 _ **AN: Two girls, boy!**_ **TWO _girls! [points at Xion and a picture of Namin_** ** _é]_**

 ** _Roxas: It's not like that's my fault! People can't make up their mind about which girl I should be paired with, or which pairing they like better. And_ nobody _say anything about the pairings that involve me and Axel, or any other guy for that matter. I'm not gay!_**

 ** _AN: Ahem, we here at lyokoMARVELanime studios would just like to say that we do not have a problem with people who are gay. Merely the way that some people will try and make two characters gay (such as Roxas and Axel, or Sora and Riku), merely because they either try to read too far into a few simple acts of friendship when there is nothing to read, or because they just refuse to tell the difference between an act of friendship and one of romance. You are entitled to your own opinion of course, but just know that we are of a different one._**

 ** _Anywho, I know some of you who have read the previous story, Kingdom Hearts Dual Keys, have a lot of questions that you likely wish for me to answer, and honestly, I probably would answer them right here and now, but I feel like you've all waited for far too long for this story to come out, so why make you wait any longer? I'll probably just provide you all with what answers I can in the ending note or something._**

 ** _Xion: Aren't you going to show off another parody song that you thought up for this story?_**

 ** _AN: Not yet! It's still too soon to unveil that! Wait a couple more chapters or so before asking me to play that._**

 ** _Xion: Okay, fine._**

 ** _AN: Ahem, now with that out of the way, let's get this show on the road, or as Darkwing Duck would say, let's get dangerous!_**

 ** _Roxas: Yeah, I don't really think that works here._**

 ** _AN: Matter of perspective and opinion._**

 ** _I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story._**

* * *

 **Chapter I**

Normally when one is having a bit of restless sleep, it usually because something rather simple is bothering them, they are especially excited about something, or because of a bad dream, and it's not really all that uncommon for everyone to find themselves in such a state from time to time. However, while dreams were a big part of the problem for a certain resident in Twilight Town, there was something about the things his subconscious was showing him that made him think that they were not just mere dreams. As he slept, he saw images that he did not recognize, but still somehow felt familiar to him, like he had experienced them and forgotten, and whenever someone spoke, he only got small snippets of the conversation, and sometimes, sentences that were left unfinished. From what he could remember, this had happening on and off, but recently, the dreams had started to become a little more frequent, and more than that, they were become clearer as well. And this is just a few examples of what this boy was seeing in the dream he was having right now…

 _A boy with brown, spiky hair found himself staring up at a clear blue sky with a shinning sun with the faint sounds of seagulls from somewhere around him. Upon sitting up, he glanced around to see that he was right back to the beach on the Play Island where he had initially laid down for a nap, much to his relief, and after letting out a deep yawn, he lay down once more in the hopes of a much more peaceful nap. At least that was what he would have tried to do, had his vision not suddenly found itself being filled with the face of…_

 _"Whoa," he exclaimed as he bolted upright once more, and he then turned to see a redhead girl still standing over him with her hands on her knees, lightly laughing at his startled response to her presence. "Gimme a break, Kai—!"_

 _The scene changed in a way that was_ _when the picture goes bad on an old television when it did_ _before the girl's full name could be heard, and showed a boy with silver hair running along the beach against the spiky haired boy, clearly racing each other. "Giving up already," the silver haired boy teased before the scene changed again to show both boys and the girl watching the sunset as they sat on a tree that looked like it had grown in a sideways direction. "If_ _there are any other worlds out there, why did we end up on this one," the silver haired boy asked._

 _Any answers that could have been given were lost to more, fuzzy images flashing past the mind's eye, until it settled on the image of the boy looking at a childish looking self-portrait of himself and the girl from before looking at each other, while the boy seemed to be giving the girl a star._ _"This world has been connected," someone suddenly said from behind him._

 _"Wh-Who's there," the boy called out, turning to see a stranger in a dark cloak._

 _"Tied to the darkness…" the stranger continued, and then the scene changed again, this time showing the boy glancing up at the girl as she stood beside him on the dock while they watched the sunset._

 _"Sora, don't ever change," the girl requested before she appeared to think about something for a minute. There might have been something between the two points, but it was clearly skipped over for some reason. "Hey, Sora, you know how you said that you had a really weird dream yesterday during your little nap?_ _Well, I think I had a pretty weird one too just last night."_

 _"What about," the boy questioned._

 _"I'm not really sure. I remember seeing a lot of people with weird swords, and they were all fighting against these monsters that were destroying everything around them. I didn't recognize most of the people fighting the monsters, but I could've sworn that I had seen at least one or two of them somewhere before…"_

 _"Well, did you get a good look at them?"_

 _"Not really, at least not beyond what I already told you," she admitted. After thinking for a minute though, she then added, "Although, there is one other thing I do remember…"_

 _"Yeah? What's that?"_

 _"I'm pretty sure that one of them was a woman…and that she had blue hair…I think…"_

 _Once again, the scene shifted, just like it had before, and it showed a dark sky with the silver haired boy standing before the spiky haired one, who was apparently named Sora, his hand held out to him, as if beckoning him to come with him. "The door has opened…" the silver haired boy's voice could be heard saying, the dialogue obvious being something he had said earlier since the dream did not show his lips moving at all._

 _"What," Sora asked._

 _A minute later, the scene began shifting a lot more frequently, varying between a bad television picture, and that of several numbers in computer code, only pausing to show the spiky haired boy looking up at a massive, dark monstrosity of some kind that looked like it was a living shadow, while the voice of the cloaked stranger spoke out. "You understand nothing."_

 _The scene shifted one last time, before showing the cave from earlier, as a massive door behind the redhead flew open and pushed her towards Sora, who had to raise his arms to shield himself from the strong winds that came out from the door. "Sora," the girl's voice seemed to softly call out in a drowsy sort of tone, while the dream showed her being blown towards Sora until she seemed to pass right through him._

* * *

That was the last thing that a teenage boy with blonde, spiky hair and blue eyes saw before he finally awoke and sat up in his bed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he did. He glanced about his room for a moment, taking in the rather simple appearance of its otherwise messy state, as he whispered, "Another dream about him…" The sound of a clock tower's bell then grabbed his attention prompting him to turn and open the window next to his bed so that he could let in some fresh air, or at least as much fresh air as one could get in a city like the one he currently lived in. "Good morning Twilight Town," the boy smiled in soft greeting while the sounds of trains arriving at the station could be heard in the distance, but that smile quickly became replaced with a look of worry when he glanced over to his alarm clock to see what time it was. "Oh nuts! We're going to be late!"

His new realization was all the prompting that the blonde needed to spring right up from his bed and start changing out of his simple, grey and white pajamas and into his usual attire for the day. Just as he had finished slipping on a black, high-collared jacket over his usual grey t-shirt, and his black and beige colored pants, he remembered that there was still someone else he had to get up, and quickly dashed out of his room as he grabbed a second jacket, which was white with several black block designs, and a grey hem on each sleeve. Once he had arrived at the door to the room right next to his, he rapidly knocked on it, just in case the person inside was already up and getting dressed. After receiving no answer in response, he opened the door to see that the room's occupant was still sleeping, bundled up in several blankets as they snoozed the day away, something that the blonde was not going to be having right now.

"Xion, it's time to get up," the blonde stated as he rushed over and gave a few nudges to the shoulder of the person buried in the blankets.

"No. I don' wanna," a girl's voice drowsily replied.

"Well you gotta! We overslept," the blonde exclaimed, starting to pull back the covers until the girl's head was exposed, revealing her very lightly tanned face and messy black hair to the world.

"Then lemme sleep som'more," Xion begged as she feebly fumbled to pull the covers back up again. "It's summer, Roxas, and tha means no school, so we don't gotta be nowhere early. Which means Xion sleep more. So let Xion sleep."

"How about no, because we do gotta be somewhere! Remember? We told Olette and the guys that we were going to meet them at the Usual Place today," the now identified Roxas reminded her, barely suppressing an eye-roll at the brunette's lazy speech pattern.

"Olette's the only one who'll care if we late or no," Xion retorted in reply before burying her head under a pillow as if to block out any more noise from the blonde that was bothering her.

Roxas was about ready to give up, as evidenced by how he threw on his white jacket, and fixed the collar so that it was folded back, allowing the world to see the red pleated design that was on its inside. Just after he had done so though, he smirked a little bit and slowly crept over to Xion once again, fishing out his Magi-Phone, the latest model smart phone on the market from Imagineer-Works, and scrolling through his playlist of songs before he found the one he was looking for. When he settled himself next to the bed, he held the phone up to Xion's head, hit play, and at once, a catchy little theme tune started playing from the phone's speakers.

 _"Life is like a hurricane here in Duckburg. Race cars, lasers, aeroplanes! It's a duck-blur!_

 _Might solve a mystery, or rewrite hist'ry! DuckTales! Oo-woo-oo!_

 _Every day they're out there making DuckTales! Oo-woo-oo!_

 _Tales of daring do bad and good luck tales! Oo-woo-oo!"_

"DUCKTALES IS ON," Xion cheered before the song could get much further, springing up from her bed and scampering for the TV in her room as fast as lightning. It was not until she saw that the television was off that she realized what had just happened, and she immediately turned an upset look that was more cute than it was intimidating at the person behind said trick. "I wish you'd stop doing that, Roxas. It's mean!"

"Well then you shouldn't leave it as the only way to get you out of bed almost every morning, Sis," Roxas laughed, nearly forgetting why he was trying to get Xion up in the first place. Almost. "Now come on! Get dressed while I make us a quick breakfast so we can get going already."

"All right, all right, but not until you're out of my room," Xion sighed, dropping her pout and shoving her brother out the door so she could have some privacy while she changed.

The minute the door closed behind him, Roxas turned back and warned, "Just so you know, if you're not downstairs by the time I've finished fixing breakfast, I'm going to be coming back in there to make sure you haven't gone back to bed, and I won't knock next time, either."

"Yeah, yeah. I know the drill," Xion called back in reply as she stripped off her black night gown and grabbed her own daily attire from her closet. "But you know, most people would be a little disturbed that your perving after your innocent, twin sister, Bro."

Roxas merely rolled his eyes at the girl, having heard that joke before, and knowing that Xion's teasing was not anywhere near serious in that regard, and he simply left his sister to do whatever she did as she got dressed in the morning so he could head to the kitchen. Knowing they were in a hurry today, Roxas did not bother making anything too big for breakfast, and opted for a couple simple bowls of cereal, toast and milk. He left a tub of butter and a jar of jelly out on the table in case Xion wanted either or both on her toast, and by the time he had finished pouring two glasses of milk, his brunette sister came into the kitchen and plopped herself down into her usual seat at the table. Roxas smiled in approval at her before taking note of how she was decked out in her own usual attire of a light blue tank-top beneath a sleeveless, black vest, sea-green shorts, and tan socks that reached her knees. Like him, Xion left her shoes at the door of the small house that their guardian let them live in on their own, which, if one were to glance over at the entrance, were varying shades of red. The two quickly scarffed down their respective meals before they headed for the door to grab their shoes, and the minute that Roxas had fastened the red straps on both of his grey and black sneakers, the two set out, locking the door behind them.

Another glance at his sister allowed Roxas to see that Xion had loosely wrapped a short, white scarf around her neck, and he could not help but smile a little. Normally, one would have said it was silly for her to be wearing such a thing when it was so warm out, but it was just something that Xion always had on her, so no one really saw the point. Besides, Roxas was not one to talk about odd accessories, since he wore a black-and-white, checkerboard wrist band on his left wrist, while his left index finger was adorned with a plain black ring, and left middle finger a white one. If anyone thought that was weird, Roxas always defended himself by saying it just emphasized how much he liked the simple colors of black and white. Besides, it was not like Twilight Town ever got too terribly warm in the summer time. The city was named as such because it was always twilight, aside from when it was actually the appropriate time of day for it to be as such, and then night time afterwards, so even the beaches were just barely warm enough to get away with wearing the typical summer attire.

Anymore thoughts about his or his twin sister's attire were put out of his mind as he and Xion started racing for the spot where they and their friends always met up to hang out, hoping that they had not missed too much of whatever vacation plans they were running with today because of how late they had slept.

* * *

It turned out that the twins were not as late as they thought they were going to be, but apparently, they did still miss something by not showing at the same time as the rest of their friends. According to Hayner, a blonde boy that wore camouflage-print capris, a black muscle shirt, and a short, sleeveless, grey vest, their old bully, Seifer, the leader of the town's self-proclaimed "disciplinary committee," had gone around and started accusing their group of stealing from everyone in the town. Naturally, Hayner was far from thrilled about this, and Roxas suspected that it had very little to do with his long-time rivalry with Seifer either, a feeling that Xion and all of their friends shared, seeing as they were not too fond of the information that Hayner had just informed them of.

"Man, doesn't that just tick you off," Hayner asked the gang, collectively when he finally finished his recounting of the rumor.

"Yeah, that's just wrong," his best friend, Pence agreed. Pence was a heavy-weight boy with black hair, and brown eyes, who dressed in short-sleeved, white shirt, which he wore a red jersey over, blue jeans, blue and white shoes, and a black headband with grey lining. The one thing that everyone knew the most about Pence though, was that he always had his camera on him, because he wanted to make sure he got photos of all the best memories he shared with his best friends. There were various other reasons, sure, but that was the chief among them all.

"Seifer's gone too far this time," Olette nodded along with them. The only other girl in the group aside from Xion, Olette had brown hair and green eyes, and was always sporting her signature orange tank-top with white floral designs, khaki-colored capri pants, orange socks, and cream and yellow shoes with black laces. More than that though, she often served to be the most level-headed of the twins' three friends, being the one who usually got Hayner and Pence to reign it in before they did something stupid, and who always made sure that they knew when it was time to stop playing and start working, at least when it came to school or when they needed to do a few odd jobs to earn some money. If Hayner was Roxas's best friend of the bunch, Olette was definitely Xion's.

Speaking of the dark haired girl, it was at that moment when the three went silent that she and her brother realized that the others were looking to them for their opinion now, but considering that they had already said it all, Xion and Roxas could only nod in agreement with them. That was apparently good enough for Hayner, as he immediately grinned before he jumped up from his seat so he could start pacing as he voiced his thoughts aloud. "I mean, it's true that stuff's been stolen around town, and we've got a score to settle with Seifer and everything," Hayner admitted. "So if he wants to think we did it, I can't really blame him. See…that's not what really bugs me. What REALLY bugs me is that he's goin' around tellin' everybody we're the thieves! Now the whole town and their mothers are treating us like the Klepto Club! Have you ever been this ticked off before in your life, 'cause I haven't. Nuh-uh, NEVER."

"Clearly," Xion murmured with an amused smile. She was just as upset about the whole thing as Hayner clearly was, but she found his angry ranting to be a little amusing sometimes. This was one of those times. There was just something about Hayner when he got mad like this that she found a little funny, but when he actually started doing something or getting mad for a really serious reason, that quickly went away. A moment later, her brow scrunched up in thought before she whispered to Olette, "What's a klepto?"

Olette could not help but giggle at Xion's innocent question, but Xion did not have a problem with it. She was well aware that there were times when she seemed like a little kid whenever she asked certain questions. "It's short for kleptomaniac, which it basically the word for someone that can't keep themselves from stealing things."

"Oh, got it," Xion nodded, now able to sympathize with Hayner's anger a little more than before.

"Now, with the vocabulary lesson out of the way…what to do about this mess that _Seifer's_ put us in," Hayner cut in, growling Seifer's name when he did while he punched a fist into his open palm.

At that point, the whole room went quiet, indicating that the group was thinking about the matter very seriously, but having a hard time coming up with ideas. Eventually, everyone's gaze ended up on Roxas, much to the blonde's mild surprise. Xion was not sure why that was the case though, since her brother almost always had some idea on how to handle a situation, at least as far as she could remember. If you were to ask her, Xion thought that Roxas should not be too surprised by everyone looking to him for ideas on their course of action any more, given how often it happened. "Uh, well…" Roxas muttered as he shook off his surprise at becoming the center of attention. Just when the others began to think he did not have an idea, he finally came up with something and said, "We could find the real thieves. That would set the record straight."

"Hey, that sounds fun," Pence agreed, getting up to grab his camera so that he could get photographic evidence of the event.

"It sounds dangerous to me," Xion corrected. "What if this guy or girl is dangerous? I don't want anyone to get hurt. Maybe it would be better if we let someone like the police handle this."

"And who's to say that the police won't eventually try to arrest us because they believe the lie," Roxas asked. "If we want to prove our innocence, then we should do it ourselves, Sis."

Xion had to admit there was a certain truth to what her brother said, so she nodded in agreement with him and left it at that. That was still not enough for Hayner though. "What about Seifer," the blonde asked.

"First, we gotta clear our names," Roxas insisted. "Once we find the real culprit, everyone will get off our backs."

"And it would make getting back at Seifer a lot easier if people knew he was lying about us being the thieves," Xion added on, just as Hayner was about to growl in frustration. When he heard that, Hayner immediately smiled at the thought, and nodded in agreement with Xion, earning her another smile from her brother, but all smiles quickly vanished after Pence suddenly finished checking over his camera and collection of pictures.

"Oh no! They're gone," Pence cried in disbelief. "Our — are gone!"

Xion and Roxas both quirked an eyebrow at the sudden gap in Pence's last sentence, and from the look of things, it was not intentional either, as Pence was clearing his throat in an attempt to say the word that should have been in his last sentence. It did not really seem to register to the other two yet, because somehow, they seemed to know just what it was that Pence had said, as indicated when Hayner asked, "All our —, gone!"

Hayner was quick to start following Pence's lead in trying to say the missing word, and had just as much luck getting it out too, much to everyone's shock, and Olette soon revealed that she was unable to say the word either when she asked, "You can't say —? Why not?"

"But you do understand what I'm saying right? Our — are gone," Pence stated.

"Stolen," Roxas mused aloud, pulling the attention back on to him. "And not just the —. The word —! They stole it too!"

"Oh come on, Roxas. That's just silly. How can somebody steal people's ability to say a word," Xion argued.

"I don't know, but do you have a better explanation for this," Roxas inquired.

"Well…um…" Xion had to pause and think for a few minutes before she finally sighed and admitted, "No, not really. But that doesn't make it any less weird that somebody out there could actually steal the word —."

"What kind of thief is that," Hayner questioned. "Seifer could never have pulled that off."

"Gee, ya think," Xion sarcastically asked.

"No need to get smart, Xion. If anything, it's time for some recon," Hayner quipped in return, and with that, he turned and led Pence and Olette out into the alleyway so that they could all head into town and start looking for some clues.

"Hey! Wait for us," Roxas called out before he and Xion started after them. He barely got more than two steps out though before he was suddenly overcome with a feeling of dizziness, and he suddenly found his world going black as he dropped to the ground.

"His heart is returning," a deep, baritone voice seemed to say in Roxas's mind. "Doubtless he'll awaken very soon."

Roxas was about to try and question the voice as to what it was talking about, or where it had even come from, but for some reason, he felt as though the speaker was now gone just as suddenly as he had came, and he started coming around a minute later, almost like he had just woken up in bed from a weird dream. Of course, there was a huge difference between his soft, comfy bed and the hard pavement he had fallen face-first onto, but any pain that he felt from his fall went ignored when he spotted Xion lying on the ground just a few feet from him, apparently passed out. "Xion! Hey, Xion! Are you okay," Roxas called out as he rushed to her side and started trying to shake her awake like a responsible brother.

Xion groaned softly for a moment before she finally pushed herself up on to her knees and replied, "I…I think so."

"What happened," Roxas asked.

"I don't know. One minute I was about to follow the others with you, then you suddenly stopped and looked like you were about to lose your balance, and I suddenly felt a little dizzy," Xion recounted as she rubbed her forehead in attempt to help her recall any other details and relieve the pain from the fall. "I think…I thought I heard someone talking in my head too. Something about someone waking up soon and their heart returning, but I'm not too sure."

Now Roxas was getting weirded out. First their mystery thief seemed to have stolen their ability to say the word photo, then he and Xion both passed out at nearly the same time for no apparent reason, and now they had both heard the exact same voice, or at least the same message that the mystery voice he heard had said, while they were unconscious for that brief time? Those were all smack dab on the list of things that one would consider not normal, but before he could ponder it any further, they both heard Olette calling out for them to hurry up, indicating that the others were already well ahead of them. Any more thoughts on the new mystery were put on the back burner after that, and the twins quickly chased after Olette so that they could join their other friends in heading into the main part of town.

* * *

The five friends were all eager to begin their investigation and clear their names, so they immediately went to the one place where they could best do that: the Tram Common. Easily the largest part of the main town, the Tram Common was where everyone mostly went to when they needed to get some shopping done, along with a good deal of other things that you could not do anywhere else in Twilight Town, assuming you did not live in one of the apartment buildings that were also in the area. The fact that there was a free tram circling around the area made getting around a lot easier too, but today, it was also the same place where Roxas, Xion, and their three friends were finding a lot of folks that were less than thrilled to see them.

The thief had struck a great number of places in Twilight Town, and while the gang in general was being treated with suspicion a good, for the most part, it was just Roxas and Xion who were viewed as the prime suspects for some odd reason. This was new information for the five friends, as they all thought that Seifer's little rumor had all five of them targeted, but given what a few people had said when the five talked to them, it seemed that a big reason that everyone was so suspicious of Roxas and Xion was because they believed that no one else would want what was taken aside from the two of them. They did not really get much more than that until after they helped the woman at the candy shop find her missing cat, and they quickly learned that she too was missing some very important pictures. Not only that, but like the five of them, she was unable to actually say the word photo, but they could still tell what she was saying like before. Xion tried to say that they were just able to tell because of context clues or lip reading, but Roxas had immediately dismissed that idea since it did not explain why they could not actually hear or say the word when someone said it.

"Looks like the culprit is going around stealing —," Hayner noted as they stepped away from the candy store.

"And not just —, but the word —, too," Olette added, continuing with their repetition of facts that they had gathered so far today.

"This definitely isn't your average thief," Pence finished.

Xion hummed in thought for a moment, still skeptical about the idea that someone could steal a word like that, until she finally asked, "Do you guys think that Seifer might know something about all of this? I mean, you did say he was the one who started accusing us in the first place, so what if he learned something and kept it to himself so that he could better pin the blame on us?"

"Only one way to find out: we gotta talk to him," Roxas decided.

"No way! He'd sooner try to beat us up as 'justice' so that he'd look good to everyone in town," Hayner protested.

"But if he does know something about the thief's true identity, then we gotta at least ask," Roxas reasoned, and he was not going to hear any further arguments against the matter. "C'mon! To the Sandlot!"

The five all raced off in the direction of the area that Roxas had mentioned, all knowing that Seifer and his gang were going to be there, be it because they were practicing for the upcoming Struggle tournament, or just because they liked to hang out there more than anywhere else in Twilight Town. Despite the name, there was not really all that much sand in the Sandlot, but most people called it that for some reason that most people did not really remember. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that it was just a large open area where everyone gathered for some of the town's special events like tournaments and such, but at the moment, the five were not really all that interested in reasons behind the names for areas of their home town. All they were interested in right now was three kids that were gathered by the blank bulletin board like they were trying to find something that should have been posted there. When said kids turned to face them and leveled angry glares at all five of the friends, they quickly gained an idea on what they were looking for.

"Thieves," the lone girl of the three quietly accused, while the shortest of the bunch, a small kid that was dressed like some kind of wizard ducked, with his head hidden deep beneath his hat and the large collar of his coat behind her the big guy. This girl with steel-blue, almost silver hair, reddish-brown eyes, one of which was always hidden behind her bangs, and decked out in a blue, sleeveless jacket and Capri pants with irregularly placed pockets, was Fuu, and Xion always found her to be a bit odd, mostly because of how she almost always said no more than one or two words when she spoke. There was soft spoken, and then there was barely speaking at all, and if you asked Xion, Fuu tended to lean more towards the latter.

"That was low, y'know," Fuu's larger friend, named Rai growled. Rai was rather tall and muscular for his age, and the latter tended to show quite a bit since he was always wearing his dark orange tank top. His baggy dark sweat pants also made it seem like his legs were even bulkier than they actually were at times, but Roxas insisted that any other kind of pants would have been like skinny jeans to Rai, so it made sense that he always wore them. Now do not misunderstand; Roxas did not like Rai anymore than the rest of the "Twilight Town Disciplinary Committee," but he did feel like it was necessary to defend the big guy's fashion choices since he could remember seeing him struggling to find some clothes that were his size at the store once. The only thing that bugged Roxas about Rai more than his attitude and the way he finished every sentence by saying "y'know," were his sideburns. He honestly thought that such large, bushy things just seemed so out of place on someone that was practically the same age as him, and would make it a point to make fun of them a little bit from time to time.

The shortest kid, named Vivi, only shook his head at the five, but he did not say anything. In all honesty, Vivi was the one member of Seifer's gang that the five had the least problems with. Xion often got the feeling that Vivi only hung out with them because he thought that it would help him become a little tougher, or braver, or some other ridiculous notion, because the poor little guy had was not the most open around people, even less so before he started hanging out with Seifer. Several times when she was around him alone, she could swear that she saw a small blush shine out from the shadows he hid his face in while he stuttered in an attempt to talk to her. Roxas and the other guys all teased her by saying that Vivi had a crush on her, but Xion dismissed that idea every time by countering with the fact that if it was true, he probably would be hanging out with them more than Seifer. Right now though, there was not going to be any such teasing, as Hayner immediately stepped to the front of their group so that he could meet the accusations with a bit of rash action.

"Oh yeah? You guys are the ones who started the rumor," Hayner challenged.

"Nice comeback there, Blondie," a new voice mocked in retort, and the twins turned to see that the ringleader of the so-called disciplinary committee had now arrived and joined in on the fun. Seifer himself was a bit taller than either of them or their three friends, and was always sporting a blue crop-top vest with white lining underneath a white, sleeveless jacket that reached down to his ankles. His baggy, dark colored pants were always tucked into black combat boots, and his blonde hair was constantly hidden beneath a black beanie. Many times when they actually did come to blows with Seifer, Roxas would sometimes grab the brim of his hat and pull it down over Seifer's eyes, blinding the taller boy and opening up a few advantages for him, a tactic that Xion would often use as well on the rare occasion that she got into an actual fight with Seifer herself, and right now, they were both very tempted to do just that, though in this case, it would be to hide the smug glare he was throwing at the five of them.

"What'd you say," Hayner growled in response to Seifer's earlier comment.

"Here we go," Xion sighed with a not-so-discreet eye roll, a sentiment that Roxas shared since he was both annoyed by Seifer's presence and how bent out of shape it made Hayner.

Seifer did not seem to care too much about Hayner though, as he was more focused on something else, and they did not have to think too much to guess what that was. "You can give us back the — now," Seifer demanded, while Roxas and Xion both had to suppress the urge to groan at how yet another person was suddenly unable to say the word that had apparently been stolen.

"Yeah! You're the only ones who would take it, y'know," Rai agreed with his boss.

"That was undeniable proof that we totally owned you lamers," Seifer accused, barely seeming too phased by how Roxas and Xion were both glaring at him the whole time. "So what did you do? Burn it?"

The five remained silent, knowing that trying to convince Seifer that they were not the thieves would be like trying to talk water into not being wet. "We didn't do anything with them because we didn't take your stupid —," Xion suddenly snapped, so clearly, most of them were content in just glaring the bully down.

Seifer just smirked at the dark haired girl before he scoffed, "Ha, not that we need some — to prove that you're losers."

"Pretty sure you do, actually, seeing as everyone around here knows that any one of us could mop the floor with you any day of the week," Roxas retorted with a smug look of his own, one that Xion almost perfectly matched as she crossed her arms in confidence.

"Why you little-," Seifer started to say as he prepared to charge the blonde. His charge was halted though when one of his cronies offered up an idea that he just could not resist.

"Replay," Fuu suggested as simply as you please.

Seifer's first response was to laugh with prideful arrogance before he dropped into a fighting stance and cheered, "Now you're talking!"

Hayner and Roxas were both quick to do the same, while Pence and Olette jumped back a little, since they did not want to get into a fight if they could avoid it. Xion on the other hand remained completely neutral, as she was still a bit undecided for the moment. Sure, she liked the idea of putting Seifer and his buddies in their places, but she would have preferred to resolve things without coming to blows if it could be helped. After all, this was not just some random brawl for bragging rights, at least not at the moment, but she still felt like doing this would make Seifer be able to make his little lie a bit more convincing whether they won or lost this face-off. Then again, she was even less fond of her brother and friends getting beaten up over nothing, so she would gladly throw a few punches if it became necessary.

Seifer was not done throwing out insulting comments though, as he decided to add one last thing before things really got heated. "I guess if you get on your knees and beg, MAYBE I'll let it slide."

Roxas knew that any hesitation his sister still had was gone the minute Seifer had said that, considering that Xion was not one to let her friends humiliate themselves like this, especially to someone like Seifer, but instead of charging to deck Seifer in the face like he thought she would, Xion slowly stepped into the space in between the two sides, took a deep breath, and got down on her hands and knees, looking like she was going to do as Seifer requested. While Roxas and their friends found her actions to be unbelievable, Seifer's crew just laughed haughtily at them, thinking that they had gotten the best of at least Roxas's twin sister, but she quickly proved them wrong when she suddenly sprang forward, grabbed a nearby Struggle bat that had a larger hand guard than the others, and swung it right into Seifer's gut, much to his surprise.

While Vivi beat a hasty retreat, Rai and Fuu quickly moved to engage Xion in order to pay her back for her little sneak attack, but Xion was too quick for them, and easily avoided both of their reaches, leaving them open for when Roxas joined and delivered his own attacks using the simple, default version of the Struggle bat that he had scooped up from the ground seconds earlier. After seeing that both twins were now armed and ready to fight, Fuu quickly joined Vivi in getting clear, while Hayner, Pence, and Olette stepped to the side so that they could watch the show that was about to unfold. Only Rai remained in the middle of the impromptu arena along with Seifer, and like that, a tag-team brawl was underway. Despite the fact that they had each been bested by the twins before, Seifer and Rai did not seem to be the least bit worried, but instead, just continued smirking confidently as they each held their own combat stances to show they were ready as well, with Seifer now wielding his own Struggle bat that Roxas knew he was never without, and Rai taking up the typical battle stance of a boxer.

If he were to be honest, Roxas did have to give Seifer points for being confident, but he was far from worried. He could take Seifer alone any day of the week, and he could handle both the local bully and Rai almost as easily, but that was not the main reason for the wide smirk on his face. The reason why he was smirking so widely was because he was not facing these two alone; he was facing them with Xion right beside him, and nearly everyone in Twilight Town would tell you that no one stood a chance against the twins when they were working together in anything. This was especially true in the case of any fights that they both got themselves into, because when they fought together, it was almost like watching a perfect dance. They were always flowing as if they were one in body and mind, and covering any weak points or disadvantages that the other had like it was second nature to them, and this time would prove to be no different.

Rai was the first of the two to be reminded of the twins' combined strength, as he recklessly charged forward to try and land a punch on Roxas. He never reached his target, as Xion had easily slid across the ground and tripped him up with a quick swing at his lower legs, leaving Rai open for when Roxas rushed in and slapped him hard across his chest with his Struggle bat. Before Rai could recover from the coordinated strike, Xion came at him from behind, and knocked him over the head with her bat, effectively removing him from the fight, as he insisted that he could not properly fight with a headache like the one he had just gotten. Seifer let out a short growl at Rai's poor show, and Xion could have sworn that she heard him mutter something that sounded like an insult towards his friend, earning the taller kid even more of her ire, as shown when she did not wait for Roxas and just charged Seifer.

Seifer easily parried Xion's upward swing, and was about to knock her back when the girl ducked down at the last moment, and allowed Roxas to freely swing at Seifer. The strike may have come rather close to hitting Xion, as she could tell by how the wind whipped at her hair as Roxas's bat had flew over her head, but she was not too concerned. After all, she knew that her brother would never hurt her, and that was without the fact that he was so hesitant to train her in how to Struggle when she asked for the first time. That confidence in her brother also served to help her know when he wanted her to move without even needing him to give her any kind of silent signal, so when Roxas jumped to the side, Xion knew that was the moment she needed to spring forward and attack Seifer safely. The two kept up this tag-team effort, easily overwhelming Seifer like he was a Struggle rookie instead of a tournament regular, and before long, Seifer was knocked flat on his back by one final, combined strike from the twins.

"So, what was that you were saying about begging for forgiveness," Xion mocked with a grin as she shoulder her borrowed bat, with Roxas grinning as he held his own bat at his side.

The taller blonde merely scoffed in retort, while he let his cronies come to stand in front of him as if to defend him from any further attack. "Seifer's…not feeling so hot, y'know," Rai tried to insist. "Besides, two against one is completely unfair, y'know!"

"You do remember that it started out as two-on-two until your buddy decided to use you as a meat shield after you just rushed in like an angry bull, right," Roxas questioned, though it was pretty obvious that he was not serious.

While Rai was ready to charge and make another attempt at hitting Roxas, Fuu merely held out one arm in front of her larger friend and leveled both him and the twins a look as she decreed, "Tournament decides."

"Fine with us. We'll mop the floor with any of you whenever, wherever," Xion decreed, letting her grin grow a little wider as she did so that she could show how eager she was for the upcoming Struggle tournament to come.

At that point, Pence called out to the siblings, and they immediately turned to see that their friend had his camera ready so that he could forever immortalize their victory once again. Upon realizing this, Roxas let a small smile cross his face, while Xion let her grin become much more friendly as she threw up the universal hand sign for peace with her free hand just seconds before they heard the camera shutter go off. Glancing back at Seifer, allowed them to see that he was trying to hide his face, but everyone would still know who it was if they ever saw the photo, seeing as Seifer was the only person to dress in the way that he did, and everyone knew that Seifer was the only one who was stupid enough to try and challenge the twins so recklessly. When Pence lowered the camera, he grinned at the siblings and gave them a thumbs-up to show that he got it, but their happy moods soon gave way for surprise as something suddenly appeared and seemed to fly around Pence for a few minutes before it grabbed his camera and began to slink away, almost like a snake, save for the fact that it seemed like it was trying to cartwheel away from them in some odd way.

It took a moment for Pence to realize that his camera was no longer in his hand, but when he did, they all started to draw the same conclusion as him. "Was that…" Hayner started to ask.

"The thief," Olette finished for him.

"Considering he just swiped Pence's camera right in front of our eyes, I'd say it's a safe bet," Xion reminded them.

"Well we can't just stand here! After him," Roxas shouted, and he and Xion both immediately gave chase with their three friends right behind them. The five did not stop running until they were back in the Tram Commons again where they lost sight of the thief. Whoever this sneaky little creep was, they had to give him credit for being so slippery and fast, but it turned out that he was not fast enough, as Xion soon caught sight of him again.

"There he is! He just went through the hole in the wall that leads to the woods," the black haired girl exclaimed, and she was immediately leading the chase once more with Roxas hot on her heels. Although, if they had stopped for a few seconds, they would have noticed that the others were not following behind them, but instead, had seemed to have suddenly gone completely still, almost as though someone had suddenly frozen them where they stood.

* * *

As Xion and Roxas continued to chase the thief through the woods, they continued to catch glimpses of his attempts at escaping, and they had to admit, whoever this sneaky punk was, he was quite the agile individual. They saw him jumping off the sides of tree trunks like a ninja doing wall jumps, swinging through the air, and performing all other kinds of acrobatic feats that most would consider impossible for the average human. Despite all of that though, it did not stop the siblings from figuring out where the thief was running off to; though, that was mainly because there was only one place in these woods where anyone could run to, and the only place where anyone could actually hide: the Old Mansion. No one ever actually went there, mostly because there was always talk about how it was haunted or something, but at the same time, it was hard to ever remember a time when someone had actually lived in the mansion, or when people called it anything other than the Old Mansion. Whatever the case though, the thief was heading there right now, and no amount of acrobatic skill could possibly get him through the locked gate that led inside.

Roxas honestly believed that the thief was not going to get into the mansion, and while she was skeptical of the idea, given what they had seen this individual do so far, Xion soon found that he was right, because it turned out that they managed to corner their target right at the gates of the mansion. "All right, tough guy. There's nowhere left to run, so give us back what…you…stole…whaaa," Xion started to demand before she finally got a good look at their suspect and immediately trailed off in bewildered surprise.

"What the heck is that thing," Roxas asked when he came to a stop next to his sister seconds later, just as shocked by the sight of the thief as she was.

Standing before them was the farthest thing from a human being that either of the two had ever seen, and that was not just because of its silver-light grey skin, the fact that it did not seem to have any eyes or a mouth, or even how its feet and hands were nothing more than small, single points. Another thing to note about this thing was how it seemed to sway around like it was being blown in the wind, and how they could faintly see black lines running up the sides of its body, pulsing with a faint, eerie light. On top of its flat-topped, cylindrical head, they could see an odd symbol that looked like someone had taken the top half of a heart and stuck it on the bottom of a pointed cross. They could also see a zipper where its mouth could have been, which was currently closed up. The creepiest thing about whatever this strange creature though, was that when it did speak, it felt as though it was speaking into both of their minds, and despite the odd language it seemed to use, they could still somehow understand it.

 **"We have come for you, My Liege and Lady,"** the creature declared.

"Huh," Roxas gasped.

"Again, wha…" Xion repeated. "Wait, did this thing just call…"

The raven haired girl's question went unanswered, as they both then had to watch as the zipper on the creature's head came undone, revealing a grey, sharp-toothed mouth, and it then let out an odd sound that seemed similar to a roar of some kind. The next thing either of the twins knew, the creature was flying right towards them, though whether it was to attack or to grab them, they did not know or care. All they knew was that they did not want to get anywhere near this thing if they could help it, so they immediately dived to either side, and out of its way. When it realized that its targets had evaded it, the creature turned its attention to Xion and dove after her, and when she realized that she could only move but so far in either direction, Xion readied the Struggle bat she still had on her so that she could attempt to either block or fight it. The bat did little good though, as any attacks she threw at this thing seemed to either do no damage or just went right through it, and while a quick spin around the creature did seem to stun it for a little while, she was still unable to render any injury to it. In the end, Xion could do not even do anything to protect herself when the creature finally batted her aside, making her lose her grip on the bat as she flew across the field and nearly hit her head on a tree that was directly behind her.

"XION," Roxas cried out, and he immediately set an angry glare on the thing that dared to hurt his sister as he charged it with his own bat. Roxas's attempts at hurting this thing were about as effective as Xion's, but he was still able to keep clear of the beast all the same. Most of his attacks were really just to keep its attention on him so that his sister could recover, but all the same, Roxas was hoping that at least one strike would at least injure this thing somehow.

Despite Roxas's best attempts though, nothing he did could hurt whatever this thing was, and he was now getting more than a little annoyed by the fact that none of his hits seemed to even slow it down. Sure, he could leave it disoriented by a few last minutes reversals that put him behind the thing, but that was not going to be enough to get rid of it and Roxas was not too eager for this thing to stick around for too much longer. Her brother's efforts to either evade or harm the creature was the first thing that Xion saw when she managed to lift herself off the ground, and the second thing, was the creature finally landing a blow on Roxas that knocked him off his feet, and like her brother, Xion was not at all fond of seeing others hurt people she cared about.

"Leave my brother alone, you freak," Xion shouted, but instead of running towards the creature as she retrieved her dropped bat, Xion did something that no one would have expected. She threw her right hand out towards the creature like she was throwing something at it, and the minute that her open palm was facing the silver being, several shards of ice suddenly rocketed out of her palm and blasted the thing into the wall surrounding the premises of the Old Mansion.

The list of shocked surprises just did not seem to end for the twins today, but if they had to assign a top spot to any of the surprises they were facing, Roxas and Xion would definitely say that the girl's sudden use of incredible powers was the winner. "Xion, did you just…but how could you've…How'd you do that," Roxas stuttered once he finally got over his surprise.

"I-I don't know. I just…reacted," Xion shrugged in reply before she looked down at the hand that she had just shot out a blast of ice from, as if she could figure out what she had just done. When a strange noise reached her ears, Xion looked towards the source and saw that their enemy had managed to recover from her surprise attack, but it was definitely moving a little slower, and shaking a bit like it was cold. "Roxas!"

Hearing the distress in his sister's voice when she cried out and pointed behind him, Roxas immediately turned to see what had her so worried and immediately let out another annoyed groan when he saw the ice blast had not gotten rid of whatever this strange thing was. "Ah come on," Roxas groaned. "It's no use. How do you get rid of this thing?"

"Don't ask me," Xion shrugged as she moved to stand beside her brother. Thinking she could try and do what she did before again, she aimed her hand at the creature, before flexing her fingers a few times as if to encourage another ice attack to come out, but nothing happened. Not even a small blast of cold air came forth, and considering that little surprise was the only way that they had managed to hurt this thing up until now, Xion was understandably worried. Once again though, she was quickly overcome with surprise when a strange glow suddenly surrounded Roxas's bat, and then several lines of ones and zeroes that were similar to lines of computer code.

Roxas took notice of this as well, and the two watched as the code lines finally coalesced into a simple flash of light, transforming his bat into something that they were not expecting at all. They could clearly tell that it was a weapon of some kind, but it was not like any weapon they had ever seen before, and for one very good reason. The thing that had taken the place of the bat in Roxas's hand looked like a giant, silver skeleton key, with crown shaped teeth, a bright gold guard around its black handle, a blue rain guard, and a long silver chain extending from the hilt that had a token on the end that looked like three circles that were meant to form a head with big ears. "What the heck," Roxas gasped as he studied the odd weapon, only to feel it jerk around in his hand before it made him aim its tip directly at the creature in front of them. "What is this thing?"

Xion was about to give another unsure answer, but the more she looked at the weapon her brother was holding, the more captivated she became, until she felt a single word run through her mind that she slowly voiced aloud. "Key…blade…"

"What did you say, Sis," Roxas asked, but he had to put it aside for the moment, as the creature was on the attack again. Taking a battle stance once again, Roxas waited for the creature to come around and attempt another attack. When the creature got close enough, Roxas spun around to its back, leaving it stunned once again, and took his chance to attack, swinging the large key at the creature's back. To his surprise, the weapon actually dealt the creature a serious blow, as it seemed to let out a pained sound the minute that Roxas had struck. Another two or three strikes allowed Roxas to realize that he was not imaging things, and this sword, this Keyblade was actually proving harmful to the creature, and he had to smirk as it seemed like the fight had now turned in their favor.

Xion shared that same smirk with her brother, dropping into a simple martial arts stance so the thing would know that she was still in the fight too, but she never got the chance to try another attack on the creature suddenly seemed to break apart and vanish completely. The two only looked on at the spot where the strange thing had just been, until the Keyblade in Roxas's hand glowed once more and vanished into the odd lines of code that it had come from, leaving Roxas empty handed. "Seriously, what just happened here," Roxas asked as he flexed the hand that had previously held the Keyblade.

"Not sure," Xion shrugged, and then she noticed several things floating down to the ground like fallen leaves. "Hey, look," she cheered before she rushed over to retrieve the fallen items. "I think that thing dropped something."

Roxas was soon by his sister's side so that he could properly study the items in question, and he could not help but smirk a little when he saw what they were. "Well, I guess this would explain why everyone thought we were the thieves."

* * *

"What's this," Hayner asked a little while later when the twins had met back up with the rest of the gang at the Usual Spot, studying one of the pictures that Roxas and Xion had brought back with them for some reason. The twins had explained that these were the very pictures that the thief had stolen, and that they had managed to get them back, but unfortunately, the thief had gotten away. The picture that Hayner was currently looking at showed Roxas and Xion standing right outside the armory shop with Biggs behind the counter.

"We were his first customers after he took over the shop," Roxas explained. "So we took a picture together."

"It's a really nice photo," Olette complimented, and she immediately gasped in surprise when she realized what she had finally been able to say along with the others.

"Hey! You just said 'photo,'" Pence cheered, glad to see that they had gotten the word back along with the pictures.

"While I'm glad that we've got that we can now say 'photo' again, I think there's a more important matter we need to address," Hayner cut in before any mini-celebrations could start up. "So Roxas, Xion, tell us about the picture thief."

The twins in question exchanged a brief, hidden look between themselves at that question. Before they had come back here, they had agreed that it would be better to keep quiet about the identity of the thief and the strange powers that they suddenly found themselves in possession of, but they knew that their friends were going to bring this up sooner rather than later. Luckily, they did manage to come up with a good cover story and just told the other three that the thief had already gotten away when they found the pictures. "Not much to say. The pictures were just lying there," Roxas replied with a shake of his head. He hated lying to their friends like this, but it was not like they would believe the truth about what had happened. He and Xion were still having a hard time believing it themselves.

"Although, before he slipped away, the thief called me and Roxas 'My Liege and Lady,'" Xion added, feeling that it was okay to mention that detail.

"'My Liege and Lady,'" Olette repeated. "Do you think that this person might have known you two?"

"No clue," Xion shrugged. "I'm pretty sure I'd remember if either of us ever hung out with someone who steals from others though."

When all eyes turned to Roxas, the blonde simply shrugged and said, "Don't look at me. I didn't even get a good look at him."

"Then how do we prove we weren't the ones who took 'em," Hayner demanded with a sigh. At least until he glanced down at one of the other pictures. This one just had Roxas in it, but it was the other individual in the photo that had caught Hayner's attention. "It's a GIRL…"

"You look happy, Roxas," Olette teased when she saw the photo.

"Do not," Roxas retorted, knowing exactly what the two were implying when they said that.

"Yeah, come on you guys. You know how Roxas is when it comes to girls," Xion reprimanded, but given her teasing tone, Roxas knew what was coming next. "He's got this idea in his head that no girl is worth the trouble of so much as flirting with unless he actually feels a connection that makes him think that she's 'the one.' He's a total romantic nut."

"Oh thanks, Sis," Roxas playfully snapped as he swatted his arm at Xion in payback, earning a laugh from her and the others.

"Hey wait a minute…That's it," Pence suddenly cheered, interrupting everyone's moment of laughter. "The thief must've been stalking Roxas and Xion!"

Everyone was quiet after hearing that for a moment until Roxas and Xion finally both shouted, "WHAT?!"

"No, really. I mean, didn't anyone else notice that all the pictures are of either Roxas, Xion, or both," Pence pointed out. To emphasize his point, he immediately gathered up all the pictures and held them out for everyone to see. The first one was of Xion standing outside the candy shop with the elderly owner. The second was a more humiliating one of Roxas down on the ground while Seifer and his gang stood over him looking smug, and if one were to look a little closer, they would have seen Olette holding an angry Xion back from retaliating against the bullies in the background. A third picture showed Xion and Roxas standing side-by-side with their arms around each other's shoulders and wide smiles ,while Xion's free hand was flashing the peace sign, followed by a fourth one of Xion and Olette posing like a couple of models as they showed off some new clothes, and a fifth that showed Roxas and Hayner practicing for the Struggle tournament. The final picture helped run the point home, as it showed a group photo of their whole gang together, right outside the gates of the Old Mansion.

"Ohh! So that's why everyone thought it was us," Olette gasped in realization.

"You mean Seifer didn't go around accusing us after all," Hayner asked.

"Hey, can we go back to the part about 'the thief was stalking Roxas and Xion'?! I think we should be a little more concerned about this than you guys seem to be," Roxas shouted, incredulously, honestly baffled that his friends were not a little more concerned for his and his sister's wellbeing.

"Sorry, Roxas, but you have to admit, it does make a lot of sense, and the pictures are all of either you, Xion, or both," Pence shrugged in apology. He then had to smile a little when he thought of something else. "Hey, wouldn't it be weird if the thief wanted to steal the real Roxas and Xion, or something?"

"C'mon, get serious. Why would anyone wanna steal a bonehead like Roxas," Hayner joked in response.

"Oh, thanks," Roxas complained, though it was obvious he was being completely sarcastic, and he was soon laughing right along with the others afterwards. At least, most of them were laughing it off, but Xion on the other hand looked like she had just heard something very worrying, and after another minute or so, she latched on to Roxas like she was afraid he was going to disappear at any moment, ending the laughter. "Xion," Roxas questioned, only to stop when he realized she was shaking a little. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"They…They can't take us," Xion whispered. "I can't…I won't let them take my brother away from me. I don't want them to get us."

For a moment, the others all thought that she was still joking around, but when they heard her speak and saw how she was trembling, they knew that she was being completely serious. More than that, but from the tone of her voice, she seemed to be really scared too, like the idea of someone coming after them in order to take them away to some other place or taking Roxas away from her frightened her to the core. "Hey, hey! Calm down, Sis. No one's going to take me away. Not from you, our friends, or anyone else," Roxas reassured her, soothingly.

"Yeah, lighten up, Xion. It was just a stupid joke," Hayner promised.

"Yeah, sorry for even bringing it up. I didn't know it would upset you this much," Pence added.

"Everything's okay, remember? The thief's gone and he was just taking a few photos of you guys. I doubt he would actually want to steal either of you," Olette said.

It took another minute or so, along with Roxas giving her a soothing hug with a pat on the back, but Xion did finally relinquish her vice-grip on her brother and calmed down. She still had to take a few deep breathes before she could properly speak again, and looked to the others before she said, "Sorry guys. I know it was a dumb joke, but I just…I don't know what came over me."

"Hey, don't worry about it. We all know how much you care about your brother," Olette promised, with Pence and Hayner nodding along in agreement.

Xion gave the three a smile of thanks for that, and when she turned around to see Roxas giving her a reassuring smile of his own, her relief only grew even more. The tender moment was brought to close shortly afterwards, when they all heard the town clock going off to signal that the end of the day was upon them. Hayner, Pence, and Olette all bid the twins a fond goodbye before they left for their homes, promising to return the missing photos to their rightful owners if they passed by any of them along the way, and after straightening up the Usual Spot real quick, Roxas and Xion departed as well. Just as they had stepped out of their regular hang-out, they had to pause and block the sun's glare from their eyes, and for a moment, both twins could feel an odd presence, not nearby, but somewhere deep within themselves.

 _"Where…am I,"_ a voice that neither of them recognized seemed to call out in their heads.

 _"Who's there,"_ Roxas mentally questioned.

 _"How are you in our heads,"_ Xion added.

 _"Who are you,"_ the voice replied to both of them.

Before either of the twins could answer, a second, more mature voice cut in and spoke to all three of them. _"You will all find out those answers and more soon enough. I promise."_

Just like that, the presence that the twins were feeling was gone, along with the two mystery voices, and they could not help but look around in an attempt to find whoever those voices belonged too. They did not see anyone though, but for some reason, they both felt like they knew who those unknown individuals were. A quick exchange of looks between the two siblings confirmed that they were both feeling the same thing, and while it was freaking them out a little, Roxas was able to regain a cool head and suggest that they were probably just tired. Xion had to agree with him after a minute, and joined him in a much more fast-paced trek for home than they had originally intended, more eager than before to get to sleep. She just had to hope that she was not plagued by anymore dreams of that strange boy with spiky hair, otherwise, she was not sure how peaceful her rest would be.

* * *

 _"Restoration at twelve percent,"_ was the report that came from a computer that rested beneath the Old Mansion of Twilight Town, or rather, the real Twilight Town, and at its controls sat a man in a rather complex outfit. He wore a long, red cape with yellow edges and a quadrate cross cut taken out at the chest, which exposed a similarly oblong white symbol on his pitch-black shirt. Over this shirt, he wore grey, segmented armor over his sides and abdomen, while his legs were covered by long black cloth lined with yellow. The cloth covering his legs had several brown straps pinned to the front for no reason that any of the three before him could see, along with a yellow sash that held three brown pouches, descending diagonally from his left hip. His light colored sleeves and the dark colored scarf were probably the most normal looking pieces of his attire, while around his head, he wore several red bandages that covered his entire head, save for one bright orange eye and his mouth. This man, known as DiZ, was the creator of the virtual Twilight Town that Roxas and Xion unknowingly inhabited at this very moment, and at the moment, it was his responsibility to keep them safe. Of course, if it were up to him, it would only be long enough for the true Keyblade hero to regain what he had lost to the two, but one of his current associates had made it quite clear that he could not exercise any form of harm against the two kids, regardless of his opinions of the girl or the boy's kind.

At the moment, one of his other associates was the only other person in the room, but he kept his head hidden beneath the hood of his black coat, effectively hiding everything about his appearance from all the worlds, and he was there as both an assistant to DiZ, and as the eyes and ears for at least one or two of the masked man's other associates. Not that either of the other two knew this fact, but it was not his place to tell either of them. Right now though, he was a bit more interested in the most recent development in the virtual Twilight Town.

"Organization miscreants," DiZ growled. "They've found us."

"But…why would the Nobodies steal photographs," the man in black questioned.

"Both are nothing but data to them," DiZ explained. "The fools could never tell the difference. I had to mute the word 'photo' from the system just to be sure that they would not discover the difference." He then let out a tired sigh before he muttered, "We are running out of time. Naminé must make haste."

Glancing to what appeared to be a life monitor, the hooded figure could not help but agree with DiZ on this, but there was still something he was puzzled about. "What about the girl? I thought Naminé's erasing of her memories would keep her from remembering how to use magic, while your program would only allow them to use it if you felt it became necessary for them to do so."

"It would seem that her powers of magic are greater than either of them realized. In fact, some of her more powerful, personal memories have had a small effect on the new personality that Naminé gave her before we sent them into the virtual world. That is why she suddenly became so worried about the wellbeing of herself and Roxas," DiZ reasoned. He then paused to rub his chin for a minute and said, "Perhaps this is also proof that it was unwise let her continue to exist. Think of the damage she could do if she had ever reached the full power that the Organization had intended her to reach…"

"You're not going to destroy Xion or Roxas. I thought I had made that very clear after I first agreed to help bring them here," a new voice interrupted, making the two turn to see who had just arrived in the lab. The figure in question was clad in a form-fitting, full suit of armor that was colored steel blue, gold, and black with several red lines decorating it. The steel blue helmet had a pair of horns that swept backwards and angled up diagonally, while his face was hidden behind a dull gold, almost black visor, and to complete this new appearance, he also had a flowing, steel blue cape billowing out from the shoulders of his armor.

"Ah, I was not expecting you to return so soon. Have you already finished gathering the information you required," DiZ greeted pleasantly.

"I've gathered as much as I could, and that will have to do. I could sense that my first apprentice and our friends were close to awakening, so I made it a point to come back here as fast as I could to make sure that you remembered your part of our agreement, DiZ," the armored man replied, his tone short and clipped.

"You really trust me that little," DiZ asked in a tone of false hurt. "And I thought that we were friends."

"We are not. Not so long as you remain the way you are now. Just remember, if we are to truly stop the Organization, we will need Roxas, Xion, and even Naminé all with us, and alive. After all, it was Naminé's choice to help us, and it was Roxas and Xion who decided to come to us, because they honestly wanted to help restore Sora."

"They already are helping us. They are the tools to bringing back your apprentice after all," DiZ tiredly explained, clearly having had this argument before with the armored man.

"They're much more than that. You yourself have admitted that Naminé and Roxas are not like other Nobodies, and the same goes for Xion, and far beyond the obvious," the armored man countered.

"If you truly think so, Master Ventus," DiZ finally sighed in defeat, seeing that he was not going to get anywhere further than he already had in this argument. Which was absolutely nowhere at all. The Keyblade master truly believed that these three Nobodies were not only unique in their creations and statuses, but also in so much more. He just had not explained how he knew this.

"I don't think. I believe," Ventus corrected, finishing the conversation the same way he always had before, and with a flourish of his cape, he turned to leave for one of the rooms upstairs, further demonstrating that he was not leaving the Old Mansion at all until DiZ had finished his work in the way that they had agreed upon.

DiZ knew that the Keyblade master did not trust him, but that was not going to deter him from his work. He had said that he would provide any and all assistance that he was able to provide for restoring Sora, and he was going to follow through on that process by any means necessary. What did it matter if a single puppet made of memories and a couple of Nobodies were destroyed in the process? It was not like they were ever meant to exist in the first place. Regardless of this, Master Ventus seemed to think otherwise, and DiZ knew that if he were to try and follow through with what he wished to do with the three, it would mean he would be facing his end, and not just at the hands of Ventus either.

* * *

 **Ventus's Journal Entry 1:**

 **Wow. How long has it been since I last made an entry in this journal? Almost ten years or so? Well apparently it's long enough for me to start over at "entry 1", so that probably means something, huh? Ah well, either way, it doesn't change the fact that a lot has happened since my last entry into this thing, so I'll try to just keep it as short as I possibly can before going into more recent events. Well, for starters, I finally met up with those two special friends that are destined to become great Keyblade masters, and one of them is now officially my apprentice. That one being Sora, and while I did help Kairi get started on her training, I honestly believe that her master is meant to be Aqua. I just hope that Kairi hasn't let herself get rusty since I last saw her. Anyway, I've taught Sora a lot in regards to being a Keyblade wielder, and I probably would've taught him something more complex, but to be fair, we were a little busy at the time saving the worlds from darkness, and boy did they need the help. The dwellers of darkness known as the Heartless were destroying worlds left and right, all under the command of Maleficent and Xehanort's Heartless, who came to refer to himself as Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, and if they were not stopped, all the worlds would be lost forever. Thankfully, with the help of the friends we made across the worlds, Sora, Kairi, Donald, Goofy, and I were able to put a stop to Ansem's plans, and set things right, but the job was only half done.**

 **While Kairi returned home to the recently restored Destiny Islands, Sora joined me, Donald, and Goofy on a new quest: to find the door to the light that would help us to save Mickey, Riku, and Aqua from the Realm of Darkness. It would only be after we've found those three again that we would finally return home and be able to rest peacefully. Sure, we did not really know where to look, and our options in doing so are more than a little limited since our gummi ship, the _Kingdom_ was destroyed, but we did have a solid clue on where to look. I just wish that the other three had been a bit more patient and waited for me before they chased down another lead.**

 **Now, after they had gone and fallen into a trap that wiped out and modified the memories of our last adventure together, a new friend of ours has had to place them into special pods so that she could reverse the damage, while in the process erase all memories of their time at the world that had once been my home: Castle Oblivion. That doesn't mean the group who set this trap is going to just sit back and watch though. So, while Naminé's working to restore Sora and the others to who they were before the trap, it's up to me to keep an eye on what this Organization XIII is doing. The only catch is that I now have to wear my armor 24/7, otherwise they'll be able to know what I'm up to, but that's a small price to pay. If they really are as dangerous as Naminé says, then we'll need every advantage we can get to stop them, and I know for a fact that it will be up to us to stop them. It's just part of who we are as people, and part of the job as wielders of the Keyblade.**

* * *

 ** _AN: Well, how about that folks? Day one of the summer vacation, and we can already see several changes, huh? Biggest example: Xion's still alive (Duh), and it going through it all right alongside Roxas. Hooray! Plus we also see the return of Ven's Journal in this story, and I can promise you, it will be quite different this time around in comparison to the last story. You'll see what I mean later on when we get deeper into the story. Maybe sometime after certain other Kingdom Hearts characters start to show up._**

 ** _Xion: Um, maybe you want to answer those reviews from the final chapter of Duals Keys before you go any further?_**

 ** _AN: Ah, what the heck, sure. Well for starters, for all of you who were wondering about the changes we would see this time, there's your first glimpse. I know some of you are still wondering how Roxas and Xion both got away from the Organization, and how it seems like Xion does not need to disappear so Sora can come back like before, but this is still just the first chapter, and that's actually part of one of the big mysteries that the two will face later on down the line. They'll get the basic gist of things in due time, but for now, you'll have to settle for your own imaginings and see if I prove or disprove them later on when the answers start to form. Also, to everyone who guessed about the series name's origin, no, it had nothing to with Sonic the Hedgehog. I just went with whatever I thought sounded best at the time, and that was it. Plus, it was also because of how I ended both Dual Keys and Keyblades of Future Past with that little "Unleashed" line at the end of their final chapters. I mean, didn't any of you guys catch that?_**

 ** _Ven: Ahem, I'd just like to address our old pal "Dragon Rider 66", regarding his comment about how I did not hear Sora, Donald, and Goofy slip away in the middle of the night so that they could fall into the Castle Oblivion trap? In my defense...I was tired, worn out from a major battle that would decide the fate of all the worlds, and just went through a huge emotional moment just hours earlier, man! I can't help it if I basically ended up being completely knocked out the minute I laid down to get some sleep at long last, and that's without accounting for all the running we did after we started chasing after Pluto!_**

 ** _AN: Okay, Ven. I think we get the point. Sorry about him. He's still a little touchy over the fact that he's basically had to wear his armor non-stop for several of the first few chapters of this story, and for the duration of that year where_** ** _Namin_** ** _é was fixing Sora's memories. Well that, and the fact that he's not paired up with Aqua in my other Kingdom Hearts story, Hearts of Avengers..._**

 ** _Ven: Not true!_**

 ** _AN: Dude, I saw you and Terra get into the glaring contest. Don't deny it! Ahem, anyway, to "The Keeper of Worlds", while your suggestion for exploring unknown pasts of certain Nobodies, and the example you provided is intriguing, I'm afraid that I'm not going to be going too deeply into that, mainly because of how we've now learned how Larxene is another one of Xehanort's thirteen darknesses. (Seriously, does anyone else think that Xehanort might be more messed-up in the head than we originally thought because of that, or is it just me?). Sure, I like the idea, but there's already so much happening in this story, that I don't think I would even have room for that.  
_**

 ** _Moving right along to our old pal "Monkey D. Conan", I reassure you, old friend, Aqua and Kairi will in fact be joining in on the main action much earlier than Kairi originally did in the canon version of KH2, but it won't be right at the start of the new journey. Just give it a little while. And Riku's fate, while similar to the original, was slightly different this time around, but we won't be revealing any details of that for some time._**

 ** _Any other answers to the questions that you all posed, I cannot answer at this time, because they would be giving away spoilers for certain events that happen later on in this grand epic of a tale. But I will go into some detail on what we saw here today. First off, in case it wasn't obvious, Ven's journal entry this time was basically serving as that moment in a TV show where we would have gone "Previously in the Keyblades Unleashed Series...", but I promise, the next time we see an entry from our favorite blonde master's journal, it will go into detail on something we don't already know about from reading this series._**

 ** _Next up is the matter of Xion's wardrobe. I doubt that I really need to explain why the change up, because as we all know, every time Xion's appeared in the canon timeline of Kingdom Hearts, she's always, always,_ always _wearing that damn Organization XIII coat. Not that it's entirely a bad thing, they do look like nice coats, when they're being worn by one of the good guys, but after seeing Roxas with his Twilight Town get-up, can anyone really be faulted for wondering what Xion's casual attire would look like? If you're want a visual of Xion's attire, just look at the cover art for this story. She's rockin' it in that picture, and let me tell you, that was not easy to make._**

 ** _Xion: I really liked it, myself. Made me feel a little more human, if you know what I mean, and not like just some Organization drone or flunky._**

 ** _Axel: Hey! I'm right here!_**

 ** _Xion: And you've been shown to have at least one other outfit. I've only ever had that damn coat! Just let me have this. Besides, I look awesome!_**

 ** _AN: She's not wrong you know. Oh, and by the way, while most of the dialogue and events that took place here were similar to that of the game, I did in fact work in one or two bits from the manga, just for the fun of it. Mainly ones that most people know about._**

 ** _Roxas: What about that whole bit at the beginning with the "DuckTales" theme song?_**

 ** _AN: Eh, I just wanted to have that in there for the fun it would add. Btw, "DuckTales" in this series is like more of a documentary about Scrooge McDuck's past adventures, both his own, and the ones he shares with Huey, Dewey, Louie, and the rest of the DuckTales gang, so don't worry about the continuity conflicts too much. Other than that, if either Roxas or Xion seem the slightest bit OOC, that's likely because of the continuity changes that have taken place, or the work of our favorite memory sorceress._**

 ** _Namin_** ** _é: I think you mean witch._**

 ** _AN: I know what I said, and I'm sticking to it. Honestly, I just can't help but think that calling you a witch is just mean and ugly, and let's face facts, you've already got enough people who are or have been like that to you._**

 ** ** _Namin_** ** _é: Aw, thanks._****

 ** ** _Roxas: Ahem. [throws warning look at the author] My girlfriend. You no touchy._****

 ** ** _AN: Dude, chill out. There's nothing wrong with me giving her a completely honest and innocent compliment. And I believe you mean your girlfriend in_ this _series. Despite what I think, I'm pretty sure that no one's really made it official one way or the other if your with_**** ** _Namin_** ** _é or Xion yet._**

 ** _Roxas: Well...uh...shut up!_**

 ** _AN: Can't. I've still got a few things to say before we wrap things up for this chapter. In case it wasn't already obvious, that second voice that Roxas and Xion heard their heads at the end of the chapter was Ven's. So, no need to guess about that. We all already know that the first one was Sora's voice too, right? Well, that's enough of that. It's time we rolled on to the most important part of these ending notes. Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _Roxas and Xion continue to have odd dreams about the boy named Sora, but now, they find themselves seeing other things too. These being events that pertain to themselves and their time as members of a group of people that all wore black coats. What exactly it means, neither of them could say for sure, but it's all irrelevant to them, because they intend to have as much fun on their summer vacation as they can. The next day, they all start working as hard as they can to gather up some munny for a trip to the beach, something that Roxas and Xion are both especially excited for. Can they get all of the money they need before the day is done, and just how many more mysteries will they stumble upon? Find out for yourself, next time._**

 ** _Ya see? We're really getting into things next time, and we're gonna see something in the dreams other than the events of the last story too. Maybe that'll start to give you a few ideas on what did or didn't change in 358/2 Days, huh? But for now..._**

 ** _Please read and review, and see ya real soon!_**


	2. Summer Vacation: Day 2

_**AN: Wow! I'm on a roll right now! How long has it been since I last posted two things for a single story so quickly? A few months? Know what? Doesn't matter. What matters is that we've now got another new chapter for the epic of Keyblade Legion out now!**_

 _ **[audience applause]**_

 _ **Yeah, I know. Exciting huh? So I'm gonna be straight with you guys. I'm going to be putting a lot of focus into this story for a while, so I would expect several more updates to come for this one. I'd say at least until we've gotten through Roxas and Xion's 6 days of summer vacation.**_

 _ **Roxas: AKA the shortest summer vacation ever.**_

 _ **AN: Hey, you said it, not me (Even if I do agree with you). Anyways, it looks like the reviews for the first chapter are really blowing up too, because I also can't remember the last time I've had so many reviews for a single chapter in barely more than...what's it been since we first posted this story, two days? Three? And that's with or without it being the first chapter of a story. Just saying.**_

 _ **Xion: Well, I'd kinda like to answer a few reviews before we get into the story.**_

 _ **AN: And answer them we shall. Let's begin with "Twisted Pxl", and some of his questions. First off I'm not entirely sure why they could still say picture but not photo. That's how it happened in the game and, as far as I know, the manga, so I didn't really see a need to change it up. Also, I did not really fill in the blank on what word they were trying to say with anything until after I got enough context clues. I don't do things like that. It's a bit out of character for me. And regarding your question about Roxas and Xion regaining control over the lesser Nobodies...well I wouldn't really hold my breath just yet. It is a good idea though, but I don't think it will happen any time soon, or with very many of them. Maybe just the Samurai Nobodies if nothing else, since I've read once or twice that those were supposed to be directly under Roxas or something.**_

 _ **Next up is to "rmarcano321", I wouldn't say there was too much to inspire me to create any of the fanfics. I just thought of an idea, let a scene or two for it run through my head a few times, and say "I'm gonna run with it." In the case of this story, if you want a more elaborate answer, I'd say that it was partially something that just came to me as I was working on Keyblades of Future Past. The idea that KH history would be changed after that story concluded, no matter what, just got me thinking on what would have happened differently, along with how having either Roxas, Xion, or even both still around for the second adventure would make things different or more interesting. As for themes...well, that kind of thing has never really crossed my mind. If I had to put something down for this one, it would be continuing the history changes that we started to see beginning in Keyblades of Future Past and then continued to unfold in Kingdom Hearts Dual Keys, or even how the Kingdom Hearts 2 would've been different if Roxas and Xion survived and did not rejoin with Sora like they had.**_

 _ **Roxas: How about answering the questions of "theIrishWriter"?**_

 _ **AN: Getting to that. To be honest, this first part is actually going to be more of a general answer, since so many people were wondering about the roles that Roxas and Xion would have in the group. To be quite honest, if I were to assign specific roles, Xion would be a more speed/balanced type of fighter. Yes, she's good with magic, but she also mixes it in with her normal fighting abilities very nicely as well, so I wouldn't call her the mage. More like a...synergist or something, maybe. I can't think of the exact word to describe a person who uses both magic and physical attacks on an even basis while still being slightly stronger in magic, but that's Xion in this story. Roxas is definitely going to be the heavy-hitter fighter, due to the fact that he will indeed be gaining the ability to wield two Keyblades naturally. More on the latter fact later, but yeah, Roxas, brute force fighter here.**_

 _ **Getting back to "theIrishWriter"'s questions, there is in fact a big reason behind why Roxas and Xion are still in the VTT, but it's not because they can't give back Sora's missing memories while they "have" them. The exact reasoning will actually be revealed later on.**_

 _ **Riku: Why not just tell them that they were put there because...**_

 _ **AN: DAH! SPOILER! [hits control]**_

 _ **Riku: [gets grabbed by a large claw and then spun around rapidly before he's thrown into the wall] Probably...should've...seen that...coming. [falls to the floor like a flat sheet of paper]**_

 _ **AN: Phew, that was close. Haven't had to do that in a while either. Hmm. Anyways, moving on with that same review answer, it's still a little too early for anyone to judge who's really the strongest Keyblade wielder right now, or later on in the story, even for Ven, so I wouldn't concern yourself with that too much just yet. Sora's not going to have a complete memory loss on all of his abilities like he did in the game, just so you know.**_

 _ **Ven: Isn't that a spoiler?**_

 _ **AN: No, it's me assuring everyone that Sora's not going to basically be reset from the beginning when he should have retained at least some small basic level of knowledge from his last journey that allowed him to remember at least some of the basic abilities as a Keyblade wielder without having to jump through certain hoops and rings in order to get them back. Anyways, didn't you say that there was a review that you yourself wanted to personally answer?**_

 _ **Ven: More like a part of a review, really. Namely the review left by "Dragon Rider 66", First the question about me knowing that "Ansem" is Riku. In this story, no I wouldn't say that I do know that. At least not for a fact. I have a hunch, but it's nothing concrete. It's not like he and I were hanging out 24/7 after all. Speaking of things that were going on 24/7, in regards to your question about me and my armor, namely how I took care of some things like showering and such...there are some things that are better left unanswered or just unsaid.**_

 _ **AN: Really?**_

 _ **Ventus: Well, for the most part. Plus, it's magic armor. I think it would keep you from needing to shower for a long period of time if that was necessary.**_

 _ **AN: I'm pretty sure you just took it off for as brief a time as humanly possible to do that stuff as fast as you could.**_

 _ **Ven: Okay, fine. If you want to basically spoil my fun.**_

 _ **AN: Okay, moving on. Anyways, in regards to your question about Darkwing Duck, there will not be a world for him, as I see his world being a part of Disney Town, but I can confirm that Darkwing himself will appear here at a later point in the story. Also, I just want to point out that I never said that Code Lyoko would not appear here in at all. Just not in its entirety. You'll see what I mean later on in this story. Oh, and regarding your question about Roxas and Xion's Keyblades, they're not going to get their own original Keyblades right away. They'll be stuck with the Kingdom Key copies for a little bit longer, but they will have their own Keyblades by the time that their summer vacation has ended. Sorry for that small spoiler, but I just couldn't keep it to myself in this case.**_

 ** _Now, to our old pal "Monkey D. Conan", sorry to say that Aqua will not have changed too much appearance wise in this story, but I can confirm that Xion's Keyblade will in fact be the Two Become One Keyblade, as we all saw her wielding in Keyblades of Future Past. Yes, all the original worlds of KH2 will be appearing in this story, along with a couple of new, original ones as well. You'll get an idea on some of the worlds we'll be seeing in the next chapter. About your two suggestions though, I do like there possibly being a clash between Sora and Ventus at some point, but it likely won't be over Sora learning about his future self's time-traveling. He's not going to learn about that for a long time, and by the time he does, it'll already have reached a point where it doesn't matter, because that will be the story that acts as the fully direct sequel to Keyblades of Future Past. Your second suggestion, while I do agree that Lightning would fit right in and get along with Aqua, I'm afraid that we won't be seeing this story crossover with the series that A Spider's Focus is a part of. We will be seeing the Spider-Man of this series again though, don't worry about that._**

 ** _Finally, to everyone who basically left it at something like simple praise or how glad they were to see this story was finally up, thanks you guys! You and all the other reviewers are one part of what makes writing these things even more fun than they already are for me. Now, I think we've covered everything, so let's get on to Day 2 of the summer vacation!_**

 ** _I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story._**

* * *

 **Chapter II**

 _Sora was more than a little disoriented, and honestly, he just wanted to sleep right now, but whatever it was that was licking him, clearly seemed to think that he should wake up. When Sora finally opened his eyes, he turned to see a dog with yellow fur and a green collar, panting happily at him. After taking a moment to look around, Sora realized that he did not recognize his surroundings at all. "Where am I," Sora asked._

 _"What happened to my home?! My Island?! Riku! Kai—"_

 _A fuzzy image of the girl suddenly flickered before the mind's eye, but it was far too out of focus to really see her. The image was just barely even clear enough for one to know that it was a girl that one would be seeing. When the image settled again, Sora could be seen facing a tall man in a black coat with a silver gunblade. "Who are you," Sora demanded._

 _"They will come at you out of nowhere, as long as you continue to wield the Keyblade," the gunblade wielder informed him._

 _"WATCH OUT!"someone shouted, and Sora barely had time to glimpse a blonde man riding on a strange vehicle before said blonde dismissed the vehicle in favor of his Keyblade, and he quickly ducked down when he saw the man suddenly toss said Keyblade towards him, sending the blade spinning through the air like a boomerang so that it would strike both the Heartless that were trying to get the drop on Sora before returning to its wielder's hand just as he landed on the ground. The mystery wielder then slashed through the remaining Heartless with a speed and skill that only a master could possess, until finally, the area was clear for the moment, allowing him to turn towards an awestruck Sora. "You okay," the blonde asked._

 _"Uh…yeah," Sora nodded, still a bit awed at what he just saw, until he finally got a good look at the weapon that his rescuer was using. "Hey, that looks a lot like one of the Keyblades I saw in my dream from the other day. How do you have it?"_

 _The blonde quirked in eyebrow in confusion at first, but he quickly waved it off with a smile and replied, "Well it would be a little weird if I didn't have my own Keyblade, wouldn't it?"_

 _"So then…you can use a Keyblade like me," Sora asked._

 _"Close, except for one not-so-small difference: while you've just become a Keyblade Wielder, I'm actually a Keyblade Master," the older Keybearer replied with an easy-going smile. He almost laughed at the way that Sora's expression seemed to vary between one of offense and greater amazement, but that soon turned to concern when he heard an explosion nearby that was followed by the sound of two familiar cries of fright and said, "Uh, I think we should probably move out of the way."_

 _"Of what," Sora asked as he turned to see whatever the Keyblade master had spotted. When he did, it was a little too late for him to properly move aside like Ven already had, and Sora ended up at the bottom of a dog-pile beneath Donald and Goofy. All three had to groan in agony for a minute, but they were able to shake it off soon enough, Donald and Goofy much more quickly than Sora since they were used to dealing with such injuries just about every other day of the week._

 _"How would you like to learn how to really use your Keyblade," the blonde asked._

 _"What do you mean," Sora asked._

 _"I mean that I can teach you how to become a true Keyblade Master like me, if you want me to that is," Ven explained. "More to the point, I can even do it while we travel with these two."_

 _"Yeah, we can go to other worlds on our vessel, so why don't ya come with us," Goofy nodded in encouragement._

 _"So what do you say? You think you can handle fighting alongside us while training to become a Keyblade Master, trying to save the worlds, and searching for our missing friends?"_

 _Sora looked down in thought for a minute, not entirely sure what he should say to that and seeing his uncertainty, Leon thought he should add his own two cents. "Sora, go with them. Especially if you want to find your friends," the man simply stated._

 _"Alright, that's what I was hoping you would say," Ven smiled gladly. "Now all that's left to do is have a few introductions. I'm Master Ventus, but call me Ven."_

 _"Donald Duck."_

 _"Name's Goofy."_

 _"I'm Sora," the Destiny Islander finished as the four all put their hands atop one another's to seal the deal. "I'll go with you guys, and if you really can teach me how to be a Keyblade Wielder, then I'll gladly be your student."_

 _"The Heartless have great fear of the Keyblade," Leon commented as they studied the Keyblade in Sora's lap._

 _The scene shifted once again, this time showing Ventus in his first lesson with Sora. "_ _You're right in saying that the Keyblade is different for every person, be it the basic level one that a wielder starts out with when they first awaken the Keyblade, or the evolved form it may or may not take on later when its wielder reaches a certain level in their skill, and that's because it's reflective of the nature of people's hearts. No two Keyblades are truly alike, just as no two hearts are the same." He then paused for a minute to let that sit before adding, "Aside from that, it sounds like you've got a pretty good understanding of the basics in what the Keyblade is capable of, except for one thing. With the Keyblade, you also have the ability to use magic."_

 _"Magic," Sora gasped, clearly getting a bit more excited by the minute._

 _"That's right, but I doubt that what I mean is what you're thinking of. The magic one can use as a Keyblade Wielder is not like sawing somebody in half or any other thing that you've probably seen magicians do, but it is incredibly powerful. Most of the magic we can wield is used for various scenarios in battle, and it is often very easy to use. The simplest way to put it is to say that when we use magic, it usually requires us to want something. Take the three simplest spells that all wielders start out with for example: Fire, Blizzard, and Thunder. The names pretty much speak for themselves as to what element they are, but more importantly, when you cast Blizzard, you must want to cause your opponent to freeze. Keep in mind though, there are a large variety of spells out there with their own abilities, such as healing or freezing time around an opponent, and some spells are simply just more powerful versions of the basic spells that you start out with."_

 _"So why not teach me some of the more powerful spells, or at least teaching me how to heal in case any of us are hurt," Sora asked._

 _"Hold on there, Sora. You can't just go and try using any spell you want, especially since you're just starting out as a Keyblade Wielder. The Keyblade may grant you the ability to use magic, but the spells still require a great deal of magical energy that you draw from inside yourself, and before you can use any of the more advanced spells, you need to build up that energy by using the magic you can already do," Ven cautioned. "Think of it like how you exercise to build up your muscles. If you can't lift something really heavy, then you shouldn't strain yourself trying to since you might tire yourself out or get hurt doing so."_

 _The scene shifts once more, but this time to the moment when Ven was educating Sora on the history of the Keyblade. "When the Keyblades were first created, it was not for the same noble purpose we use them for today; they had been created as weapons for the most devastating war in all the worlds. Since the beginning of time, legends have spoken of a powerful light unlike any other, and after a time, many began to seek this light out for themselves. In order to do this, they forged powerful weapons in the image of the blade that acted as the counterpart and the protector of this great light, and thus, the very first Keyblade War raged until it had all but destroyed the worlds as we once knew them, and the blade that acted as that great light's defender was splintered into seven fragments of light and thirteen shards of darkness. Eventually, the lights of the new generation found a way to restore life to the lost world, leading to the rise of the worlds that we know today, but sadly, darkness will always exist so long as there is a single light to cast shadows. Knowing this, the surviving Keyblade Masters took up their blades once again so that they could act as defenders of the light, and teach the new generations of Keyblade Wielders that would follow them how to do the same, so that the balance between light and darkness would never again fall into as great a threat as the Keyblade War. Sadly, the number of Keyblade Masters has faded over the years since that time, and now, only three masters remain, including me. Well, I suppose that you could also count the king's teacher, but he retired from the life of a Keyblade Master some time ago."_

 _The image faintly flickered to the same fuzzy picture of the unknown girl again, before it showed Sora and Ventus aiming their Keyblades at a large, glowing Keyhole, while a dark voice spoke out from some unseen place. "_ _But the Keyblade Master and the boy are a problem. They've now found three of the Keyholes."_

 _After that comment, the image flickered much more than before, until finally, all signs of Sora, Ventus, or any of the others that they were around vanished, and became replaced with the images of a different set of people all together. The room that was seen next was nearly all white with some grey in a few areas, while the occupants were all dressed in matching, long black coats. Some of them had their faces hidden behind the hoods of their coats, while others could barely be made out. At that moment, the person presiding over the group spoke up. "Good tidings friends," the hooded man greeted to the room at large. "Today is a momentous day. I am pleased to announce that a new comrade has been chosen to wear the coat…Number XIV."_

 _At that moment, a lone individual stepped forward in the center of the room, gazing around at the people sitting above her, until her eyes came to rest on one particular person. This person, was a young boy who appeared to be no older than her, and had spiky, blonde hair. She was not sure what, but there was just something about him that made her feel safe for some reason, a feeling that she could hardly find from any of the other twelve people in the room, and she gave him a small smile. When the scene shifted again, it showed the Number XIV in an alley somewhere in Twilight Town along with the blonde boy as he dismissed a Keyblade that looked almost exactly like Sora's._

 _"I've got someplace to be again today, so go on ahead without me," the boy said in an even, almost unfeeling tone before he started to head off. Just as he was about to walk past her, the Number XIV felt that she could not just let him walk off without doing something, and for the first time in as long as she could remember, she felt words beginning to form on her tongue and slip through her lips._

 _"R…Roxas," the girl murmured softly, and the boy immediately stopped, almost as though he could not believe what he had heard._

 _"Huh? Xion," the blonde gasped as he turned back to face her._

 _Number XIV slowly turned around so that she was looking directly into the blonde's blue eyes, and slowly said, "Roxas…is your name."_

 _"Yeah," Roxas nodded in reply, and that was all there was to it for Xion, so she simply turned to leave, like it was no big deal that she had finally spoken for the first time since she had joined the Organization._

 _Another day passed, and Roxas and Xion were both out in Twilight Town today, when Xion suddenly came to a stop. "Roxas," Xion called out, getting the boy's attention just as she reached for her hood. Pulling it down, she allowed her face to be shown to the world, along with her crystal blue eyes, cute smile, and pretty black hair. "Best of luck today," Xion wished to her blonde companion._

 _Roxas on the other hand, was left speechless. He had never seen Xion without her hood on before now, and in point of fact, no one in the Organization had. More importantly, he could not really see why she would hide behind that hood, because she looked very cute in his opinion. He was not really sure what that meant, but he did hear a few people using that word a few times on some of the worlds he had visited before, and Xion seemed to fit that description pretty easily, so he figured that was accurate. After another minute or so, Roxas finally realized that he should probably say something back to her, but he could barely form too many words. In the end, he had to settle for keeping it simple, and just nodded as he said, "Yeah. Let's go."_

 _Later on, Roxas and Xion were standing before a massive creature that looked like a giant, living shadow with a heart-shaped hole in its chest, and Roxas immediately charged in to hit it with the Keyblade. It did not go so well for him, as the creature merely pushed him aside, causing him to lose his hold on the Keyblade. A minute after it vanished, Xion dropped into a fighting stance that was very similar to Roxas's, and the very same Keyblade appeared in her own hand. Without even thinking, Xion leapt forward, and sliced through the monster, destroying it in one clean cut, and she could only listen on as it disintegrated into smoke while she landed on the ground behind the beast._

 _Roxas only just reached her as she stood up, and he could do nothing more than gape in awe before he finally confessed, "Wow, I…Xion, I didn't know you could use the Keyblade."_

 _"You know…neither did I," Xion admitted as she lifted the Keyblade up so she could look it over, a small smile starting to slip onto her lips, even as the Keyblade vanished from her hand. At that point, the two could only stare at one another before they both let out a small laugh, never once knowing that two figures, one with silver hair and wearing a black blindfold and a coat like theirs, and another in steel blue, gold, and black armor and a long, steel blue cape were both gazing down at them from the rooftops up above._

* * *

Xion awoke with a start, barely able to believe what she had just dreamed about. It had become somewhat normal for her to have faint, barely visible images of the boy with brown spiky hair and a Keyblade, along with his various friends, but they had never been this clear before. More to the point, this was also the first time she had ever had a dream like that about her and her brother, and that was the part that made even less sense in her mind. What was that group she saw? Why did they refer to her as Number XIV? Was that some kind of cult or something? And how was it that she was using the Keyblade that Roxas had somehow summoned with just yesterday? These were all questions that were running rampant in Xion's mind, along with the ones that were put forward by the new knowledge she had learned about the Keyblade just before the dream had switched over to her and Roxas, assuming that really was them, but Xion just did not know what to make of any of it.

More importantly, was that really her and Roxas? Sure, it could have easily been someone else, but it was not like they had the most common names out there. Though again, she did not remember anything about being able to use the Keyblade, or being part of a group that felt as intimidating as that one she saw in the dream before, so just what was she supposed to think about everything? Of course, only one thing really stuck out to her, and that was the weapon that she had supposedly been able to use at the end of the dream. "The key…blade…" Xion murmured to herself as she held her hand out and tried to summon said weapon like she had in the dream. After a few minutes though, nothing happened, and she let her hand drop with a sigh. "I guess it is a little silly."

Her thoughts were quickly disturbed though when she heard a soft knock at her door, and she knew that it could only be one person. "Xion, it's time to get up," Roxas called from the other side, confirming what she already suspected. "I will come in there and get you up again if I have to."

"No need. I'm already up," Xion called back.

"Oh…Uh, are you dressed," Roxas asked.

"I'm still in my pajamas," Xion replied.

"Well hurry up and change into something that you can wear outside. We're going to meet up with Hayner and the others soon," Roxas hurried along.

"Okay, okay. If you're in such hurry, how about you just go and start making breakfast," Xion chided, albeit with a tone that was much more lighthearted than one would normally use in such an instance.

"That's part of the reason I'm here. What would you say to some French Toast for breakfast today," Roxas asked, and Xion just knew that there was a knowing smile on his face when he posed the question.

Not that it was surprising, especially considering the way that Xion's mouth was already watering. She loved it when her brother cooked, and his French Toast was one of her favorite dishes, so she had no problem replying, "I'd say that if anyone were to ask me to name a bad quality that you had, I would tell them that it would be how you spoil me so much."

Roxas just laughed from the other side of the door, and Xion listened to his footsteps fading away as he headed for the kitchen to prepare said breakfast. When she was sure he was out of hearing range, Xion climbed out of bed, and tried a few more times to either summon the Keyblade again, or perform the magic spell she used yesterday, only to have no success. She could not help but sigh in disappointment, but she was not sure what else she should have expected. After all, the whole thing was just some random, freak incident, so why should she think that she could just make it happen again on a whim? Glancing to the door, she wondered if she should mention any of this to Roxas, but quickly cast the idea out of her mind. She had kept all of her other weird dreams a secret from Roxas, so why change things now. It was not like talking about them would help her understand the weirdness she saw any better, and it was even less likely that Roxas would really be able to help her make sense of the things that she saw and heard in those dreams. Little did Xion know that Roxas probably would have understood far better than she gave him credit for, and he was just not sharing the information about his own strange dreams for almost the exact same reasons.

* * *

Later on that day, the twins were once again headed to the Usual Spot so that they could meet up with their friends, both of them eager and ready for another fun day of summer vacation. At least, that is how they seemed on the outside. On the inside, they were both secretly still thinking of the events that had taken place just yesterday, and of what they had seen and heard in the dreams that they unknowingly shared. Xion in particular was still trying to puzzle together quite a few things. Her dream did help her confirm that the ice blast she had used against that silver creature was magic, or at least that was what she was thinking, but she still was not entirely sure if she could do it again. More importantly though, she was still stuck on how, in the dream she and Roxas were apparently part of some strange group or cult, and they were both able to use that exact same Keyblade that Roxas had summoned yesterday. She had secretly tried more than once that morning to summon it herself, but each time brought no results other than thin air. Part of her was feeling a little silly for trying to call something that she had no memory of being able to use, but another part of her felt a strange sense of sorrow and disappointment in being unable to call it forth.

If any of the girl's worries were being outwardly displayed though, Roxas was too caught up in his own thoughts to really notice, as his mind was still wrapped around how he had summoned the Keyblade at all yesterday, and that he had apparently been able to do so easily before, that is assuming that part of his dream from last night was to be believed. Eventually, he could no longer take it with just thinking about it, and halted his trek towards the usual spot so that he could look around for a minute. Xion did not immediately notice that Roxas had stopped walking, but when she did, she quickly turned around to see where he had gone, only to pause in disbelief at what she saw when she did finally spot him.

"Uh Roxas…What're you doing," Xion finally asked after watching her brother swing around a random stick for another minute or two.

Apparently Roxas was not expecting Xion's sudden question, because he immediately jumped and spun around to face her when she spoke up. Even then, it took him a moment of sheepish chuckling before he finally answered her question. "Well…I was thinking about that Keyblade thing I summoned yesterday and I was trying to see if I could get it to…come back, or something using this."

Xion just stared blankly at her brother for another moment or two before she finally stated the obvious for them both. "Roxas, that's a stick."

"Yeah, and when the Keyblade appeared before, I was waving around a Struggle bat. How do you know it won't work if I'm not at least holding something that could be used like a weapon," Roxas questioned. Before Xion could say anything in reply, he then thought of something else. "Come to think of it, how'd you even know about the Keyblade?"

"Huh?"

"You know, when it appeared in my hand yesterday. I heard you call it a Keyblade, but as far as I know, you'd never seen anything like it before then, so how'd you know what it was," Roxas clarified.

Xion's brow instantly scrunched up in thought, trying to figure out the answer to that same question herself. She knew what Roxas was talking about, but what she did not know was the answer to his question. Finally, she just settled on the truth and said, "I'm not sure. All I remember is looking at the thing for a minute and then the name just…came to me. I remember being just as confused about it and its sudden appearance as you were, but then, as I looked at it, something about it just started to feel really familiar. I can't really explain it."

Roxas just hummed in thought once he heard his sister's explanation, before he finally decided it would be better to just forget about it, even if it did seem to have something to do with the weird dreams he had been having lately, and simply threw his stick away as he said, "Well, it's not like it really matters now. Still, I would like to know what that was even all about…"

"Roxas wait," Xion suddenly shouted, but her warning was too late, as Roxas had already tossed the stick away, and she could only watch as it hit someone behind him in the chest. Xion immediately flinched in response to this, and quickly stepped towards the stranger as she called out, "Sorry about that! My brother sometimes has a few moments of stupidity."

"Hey," Roxas snapped to his sister. He did feel bad about accidentally hitting someone with that stick, but he did not like it when his sister told people things like that. He most certainly did not have moments of stupidity; he just did not always think some things through is all. He then looked to the stranger and was about to apologize as well, when he suddenly got a good look at the black coat that he was wearing. "Hey, where did you get…" Roxas started to ask, but the stranger had already walked away before he could finish.

Xion glanced over to her brother in confusion once more, before letting her gaze wander between him and where the stranger had just been. She thought it was a little rude of the man to just take off like that, even if he was upset about accidentally getting hit with a stick by some random kid, but when she heard Roxas start to ask him something in a tone that made it seem like it was a really important question, all upset feeling towards the stranger were replaced with new concern for her brother. "Is everything okay, Roxas," Xion asked.

"Uh…Yeah, fine," Roxas reassured her, but no one could have missed the hesitation in his voice, especially Xion. When he saw his sister giving him a look that clearly said she was not buying it, Roxas immediately insisted, "Really, it's nothing. I just…thought I'd seen that coat he was wearing around town a few times, so I was curious about where everyone was getting them."

"You sure," Xion asked. She knew for a fact that was the first time she had seen anyone in this city wearing a coat like that, at least outside of that dream she had last night, but she was not about to question Roxas on it. After all, it was not like they did every single thing together each and every day.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Roxas promised. "Now come on. We shouldn't keep the others waiting."

Xion just nodded quietly in reply and followed after her brother, still unable to shake the feeling that he was not being entirely honest with her despite his reassurances. More than that, there was something about that mysterious man from earlier that felt familiar to her, but she figured it was partly because of the coat he was wearing. Still, if that were the case, why did she not get the same foreboding feeling from him that she did from the people she saw in her dream last night? More than that, why did she somehow get a sense of…safety from him? Not like the kind she got from Roxas, but certainly similar to that, if not something a little more special.

* * *

All thoughts about weird dreams, Keyblades, and strange people with black coats had quickly left both Roxas and Xion's minds when they finally entered the Usual Spot, and the reason was just as obvious as it was simple: sea-salt ice cream. It was the twins' favorite treat, as well as their friends'. In fact, everyone in Twilight Town loved sea-salt ice cream more than any other treat out there. Nearly place had the snack, but the one place that they all preferred to get it from was the best, local ice cream parlor, McDuck's Tasty Treat Parlor. The restaurant was established several years ago by an adventurer named Scrooge McDuck, and he had wasted no time in getting the popularity of sea-salt ice cream to sky-rocket after it opened. Sometime after the place's popularity, and that of its signature ice cream treat was secured, Scrooge had left the town to continue on many more adventures, simply saying that "adventure is the mother of industry, and dere's plenty more adventure waitin' fer me out dere." It was not long afterwards that the DuckTales series started showing up on the airwaves, and everyone was able to enjoy watching Scrooge at work on said adventures. Xion could attest to that, being one of the shows biggest fans. Of course, Roxas did like the show too, but he would honestly say that Xion liked it far more than he did. The fact that the best way to get her out of bed was to play the show's theme song served as strong evidence in regards to that.

After getting their own popsicles from Hayner, the two immediately plopped down in their usual seats and began to indulge in the tasty treat's delicious glory. They had just gotten a few bites into the snack when Pence suddenly asked, "Do you guys think we'll always be together like this?"

"I sure hope so," Olette confessed with a small smile.

"Huh? Where did that come from," Hayner inquired.

"Oh, well, you know. Just thinking out loud," Pence sputtered, making Xion think that he was just trying to cover up any worries he might have had about the matter. That alone made her give Pence a small, sad look as it got her wondering about the matter a little too. She did not want to think there would ever come a time when she and her friends were not all together, and a quick glance at Roxas immediately told her that he felt the same way.

Hayner must have caught on to this, because he quickly took it upon himself to alleviate the concerns that were now rising up in his gang of friends. "Well, I doubt we can be together forever, but isn't that what growing up's all about? What's important isn't how often we see each other, but how often we think about each other. Right?"

Everyone sat in silence, contemplating Hayner's words for a minute so they could properly see the truth in them, until Pence finally decided to show his thanks for those words with a little joke. "Get that off a fortune cookie," the large kid laughed.

"That's it, no ice cream for you," Hayner playfully snapped in retort, earning a few rounds of laughter from everyone.

Suddenly, Xion had to stop laughing for a moment, and let out a soft groan as she clutched her head. Olette seemed to be the only one to notice this and immediately asked, "You okay, Xion?"

"Yeah. I just had the weirdest sense of déjà vu," Xion admitted. "Like I had heard something like that before."

"Now that you mention it…I got the same feeling too," Roxas confessed.

"Wow. You two really are twins," Pence joked. "You both get the same weird feelings at the same, but oddest of times."

"Oh thanks," Roxas playfully snapped, and like that, the laughter started up again.

When the laughs settled again, Hayner let out a soft moan as he complained, "Man, today's turning out to be a drag."

"Maybe because of yesterday's memory thief," Olette offered, and the twins had to agree with her guess, even if they did know a few more details about said event than she did. Hayner on the other hand had a different idea.

"Nuh-uh. You know what it is? We don't want summer vacation to be over. That's all," Hayner corrected, and Pence had to shrug in agreement with his friend.

"Speak for yourself. If it weren't for the fact that we always seem to find something we can do, I'd go crazy with having so much time off," Xion disputed. "At least when we're in school, we've got something to keep us busy.

"You're only saying that because you like school, Xion," Hayner disputed, acting like such a thing was completely alien.

"Actually, I agree with her. I'm honestly surprised I've been able to handle having so much time off," Roxas admitted.

"Of course you agree with her. She's your sister. You're obligated to do that," Hayner argued to his fellow blonde.

"Not true! Xion and I disagree about a lot of things, and we have plenty of arguments too," Roxas insisted.

"Oh yeah? Name five times."

"Fine. There's…uh…well there was that time…" Roxas stuttered, but he was not willing to admit that he was in fact drawing a blank.

"We disagree on what the best method for getting me out of bed is," Xion piped in, saving her brother a little while reminding him of how little she approved of his fall-back trick when nothing else worked. "And we also argue a lot about who does what chores at home. And we disagree on who's the better cook. Just for the record, it's Roxas."

"I'm good at cooking breakfast. You can cook any meal," Roxas disputed.

"You see," Xion asked, having now proven her point.

"That's still just three times. You have to name two more," Olette pointed out.

Now it was Xion had to pause and think, but now, she was unable to come up with anything. Sure, those things she mentioned before were reasonably good examples, but they were also pretty mundane and silly, and she could not think of any point in time when she and her brother had seriously argued over anything else, big or small. While some people would probably be happy over the fact that they get along so well with their siblings, Xion actually felt a little freaked out for some odd reason. She honestly felt like there was something she was forgetting about in regards to this topic, but she did not know what it could have been. That was pretty scary.

That seemed to be enough to satisfy Hayner for the moment, because he was soon jumping right back on to the point he was aiming for before. "Well either way, summer vacation's still going, and we need to enjoy it as much as we can without worrying about school or any other big thing," the blonde stated. "So how about this? We all go to the beach! And why do we go to the beach? Because we haven't gone once this entire vacation!"

"But I thought we agreed that we were going to do our homework today," Olette reminded him with a slightly pointed look.

"We'll do it later. Again, we haven't gone to the beach even once this entire vacation! Blue seas, blue skies…what's not to enjoy about a fun day at the beach? So let's just get on the train and GO," Hayner insisted with a wide grin. His excitement died a little bit though when he saw that none of his friends seemed as eager for such a trip as him. "No? Aw, c'mon!"

"Maybe you forgot, but we're broke," Roxas reminded his friend.

"Wait, don't you and Xion get money from your guardian every now and then," Pence asked.

"Yeah for the essentials like electric, water, and grocery bills. Anything else has to come out of our own pockets, and those are really empty right now," Xion clarified, going so far as to turn her own pockets inside out just to further prove her point.

"Well maybe you guys forgot I'm smart," Hayner cut in with a confident grin. "I can easily figure something out to fix that problem, and we'll all be on our way to the beach before you know it."

Roxas was about to argue a little further until Xion suddenly said, "You know, that he mentions it, the beach does sound like fun. Besides Roxas, you promised me that we'd go sometime this summer."

"I did? Uh…when was this," Roxas asked, having no memory of said promise.

"That one time when we went up to the clock tower to have some ice cream after school, remember," Xion replied like it was obvious. A minute later though, she started looking a little less sure as she added, "At least…I think it was after school. Or maybe it might've been after we'd spent the day doing some odd jobs for money. I know we were doing some kind of work that day, but I know for a fact that we were up on the clock tower when you said that we'd go to the beach on our next day off."

Roxas crossed his arms in thought for a minute, recalling the memory to his mind as he did, before saying, "Are you sure I said that? Because I thought you were the one who came up with the idea."

"See? That's even more of a reason to go! Because one of you two promised the other that you'd go next chance you got, and you can't get it straight on who said it," Hayner insisted, obviously feeling like this was turning to his victory. He then turned to race out of the Usual Spot, waving for the others to follow him, and with nothing better to do, the gang chased after him. Uncertain, but curious about what it was that Hayner had up his sleeve to make today a beach day for their group.

* * *

The gang did not get too far beyond Station Heights before Hayner had ended up spotting something that was of particular interest to him, and they all had to stop and see what it was. As it turned out, it was something that Roxas was excited for too. "The Struggle tournament! They've put up some more posters for it," Roxas asked, eagerly.

"Yep, and there's just two days to go before the big day," Hayner replied with a grin. "You and I have to make the finals, Roxas! That way, no matter who wins, the five of us split the prize!"

"Okay, you're on," Roxas agreed, knowing that the prize Hayner was talking about was the Five Crystal Trophy, an incredible prize that was awarded to the best Struggle fighter every year, and was infamous for being one of a kind, along with its five, different colored crystals. It was something that all five members of the group had dreamed about having the chance to obtain, but none of them had ever gotten far enough in the tournament before. This year though, Roxas and Hayner were both determined to change that. Pence and Olette would have entered as well, but they were not as into Struggle as the other two were, so they were okay with watching from the sidelines and cheering the other two on. Of course, that did not mean that the fifth member of their group was too thrilled to be sitting the tournament out.

Olette quickly took notice of how annoyed Xion looked from seeing the boys getting pumped up for the tournament, and could not help but ask the obvious question. "Still upset that you weren't able to sign up for a slot in the tournament before they were all filled, Xion?"

"Yeah," Xion moaned, miserably. "And I still don't get why they don't have a tournament for tag-team Struggle, too! It just doesn't seem fair, especially given how many people are having Struggle matches that way nowadays."

"Hey, don't feel too bad about it, Xion. Remember, whoever gets to the final round gets a chance to face the reigning champ. Not only that, but the player who does win gets to choose anyone they want to partner up with them for that match," Pence said in an attempt to cheer her up. Everyone thought that it was a little arrogant of Setzer to basically agree to let his match be two-on-one, but then again, considering the opportunity it presented to Xion, or anyone else who was not able to get a spot in the tournament fast enough, no one was complaining too much.

Xion did seem to get a little happier when she heard that reminder, and she quickly turned to her two friends who were competing and said, "Well, I guess that settles it. One of you two has to win the whole tournament so that I'll be guaranteed a chance to fight at least one match."

"You sure about that, Xion? I mean, you would be going up against the champ in that match, even if you would be tag-teaming him," Hayner asked.

"Positive. Besides, I don't really care if we win or lose the match. I just want to be able to participate in the tournament at all," Xion explained. Her smile did turn a little sheepish though when she added, "But if I'm being honest, I am hoping that Roxas will win the final round as opposed to you, Hayner. Partly because I know for a fact that he and I are a much better tag-team than you and me."

"And because you're my supportive little sister, right," Roxas added for her.

Xion just rolled her eyes at Roxas's "little sister" comment, all the while muttering, "I'm only younger by like seven minutes." She then looked Roxas in the eye and, with a straight face, said, "Yeah, I guess that might be a factor, too…Barely."

"Barely?!" Roxas exclaimed in disbelief, and that was what broke the serious façade that Xion was trying to hold with that little joke, giving way to unrestrained laughter for both her and their friends. "Oh, ha, ha, ha. Very funny."

"Either way, I'm not the least bit offended," Hayner reassured Xion. "I still remember the last time we tried to tag-team in a Struggle match."

Xion's face scrunched up a little bit in thought before she asked, "When was that?"

"You remember. That day when Seifer was messing with us and had Fuu back him up because Rai was stuck at home sick. Hayner asked you to partner with him because he thought having Roxas be his partner would be unfair or something silly, but you guys ended up getting creamed because you both underestimated Fuu," Olette explained.

That did not seem to ring any bells for Xion, and just when he was about to back up Olette's story, Roxas found himself unable to remember that day either. He was just about to say so when Pence said, "Either way, all three of you are gonna clean up, especially if it's Roxas and Xion who tag-team for the final round! You guys are the best tag-team Strugglers in the whole town!"

"Go get 'em," Olette cheered.

The twins did not really see any reason to disagree with their friends, and they immediately bumped fists with Hayner as the taller blonde declared, "It's a promise!" With that said, Hayner turned his mind back to their beach plans and said, "Now, let's get down to business. One ticket to the beach is 900 munny. How much for the five of us?"

"4500 munny," Olette instantly replied.

"And 300 each to spend there," Hayner determined. "What's that for all of us?"

"1500 munny, which totals up to 6000 munny," Xion quickly answered with a smile to Olette. The girls were both regular math whizzes, and they regularly had competitions to figure out who would get the answer to such questions quickest. Often times, it even extended to any tests for said subject in school, but it was always in good fun. "And if any of us want to get a new swimsuit, we'd need at least 350 each."

"I think I'm good on that front, actually," Olette reassured everyone, with similar voices from the boys minutes later.

"But what would we even need the 300 munny for? What are we going to spend that on," Roxas asked, honestly wondering what they could possibly need that much munny for while they were at the beach.

"Pretzels, of course! What else is there," Hayner questioned in reply.

"Well, there's always watermelon," Roxas suggested.

"Too pricy. They're, like, 2000 munny apiece," Hayner denied, making Roxas cringe a little when he heard that. There was no way they could get enough munny so that so much as one of them could get a watermelon at the beach before the day's end.

"Oo, oo! What about pizza," Xion offered.

"Not as bad, but still pretty pricy out there. One slice is 900 munny apiece, and a whole pie is, like, 1500," Hayner revealed.

That made Xion copy her brother's earlier reaction, and ultimately, both twins simultaneously agreed, "Pretzels it is."

"You know, it sometimes scares me how you guys do that," Pence admitted to the twins.

"Do what," both Roxas and Xion asked at the same time.

"Say the exact same thing at the same time. It's a little creepy."

The two looked at one another before they both shrugged with Xion saying, "It's a twin thing."

"You probably would be a little weirded out by it," Roxas finished.

"Twin-related matters aside, where were we at," Hayner inquired, getting them back on track again.

"We need 6000 munny altogether. But all we have is…" Olette recounted as she checked her pouch to see how much she had. "…650."

"I've got 800," Pence reported, having just checked his own wallet.

"150. Sorry," Roxas shrugged in apology.

"Um…100," Xion sheepishly admitted. When the others looked at her, she could only shrug and say, "What? I saw a cute pair of shoes in a store the other day, and I just had to get them."

"Seriously? Why shoes," Hayner asked.

"They're shoes, and I'm a girl. That's math even you should be able to do," Xion replied with a teasing remark at the end.

"Okay, fair enough. Either way, that's a total of 1700 munny, and we'll need another 4300," Hayner deducted, confirming for the others that he did not have any munny at all, at least once they were able to do the math in their heads. Having figured that out the quickest, both of the girls were prepared to call Hayner out on the fact, when he suddenly turned and raced off saying, "Let's find ourselves some odd jobs and earn some dough! We have 'til the train leaves to earn 860 munny each! Meet at the station with cash in hand!"

With that said, the other four just watched as Hayner took off and disappeared around the bend, heading into the Tram Commons so that he could snag a look at its job request board for said odd jobs. The other four just stared in silence before Pence finally asked what everyone was thinking. "Didn't he say _he_ had it covered?"

"Well, that's Hayner for you," Xion shrugged with a sigh.

"Whatever. Those pretzels are sounding pretty good," Roxas dismissed. He then turned towards the Station Heights request board and said, "So, let's get busy and start pitching in on those odd jobs. Can't just leave Hayner to do everything, after all."

The other three just nodded in agreement and quickly followed after their friends, heading to one of the two request boards so that they could gather up the munny that they needed. Not once afterwards, did Roxas and Xion's second gap in memory cross anyone's mind, but if it had at least come to them, the two siblings probably would have found themselves with a slew of questions that would have led to another step in the greater mystery that they were already in the midst of facing.

* * *

The five friends spent the rest of the day doing whatever odd jobs they could find on the request boards, and there were quite a fair amount to be done. Whether it was delivering mail quickly while astride a skateboard, helping to entertain the crowd in a street show, hanging up a few more posters for the Struggle tournament as quickly as possible, or even just breaking up trash so it could be properly thrown out and recycled, the gang did it all. Sure they were not exactly the most glamorous jobs, but it was definitely the best work one could get on short notice, and it did pay pretty well too, when they did the jobs just right and fast enough. More often than not, Xion and Roxas found themselves working together on some of the jobs, but they did find it a little odd that neither of them ever encountered any of their other friends while they were hard at work on these tasks. Sure, Twilight Town's main city was a big place, but they were sure that they would have encountered one of the other three at some point. Eventually, they just shrugged it off, feeling too excited about a trip to the beach to really care that much in the first place, and got their share of work done before they had finally accumulated their share of munny for the trip, plus then some, and when they were done, they both made a beeline for the train station.

Both siblings arrived at the plaza at nearly the same time, and they quickly spotted the others waiting for them just outside the station's main entrance so that they could add their share of earnings into the already growing pool that everyone had already entrusted Olette to count up. With Roxas and Xion's latest contribution, Olette could only smile when she finished doing the final bit of math, and turned to face her friends with a wide smile on her face. "Nice work, everyone," Olette praised. "Added to what we started with, we now have…" She then paused for dramatic effect before producing her orange munny pouch and announcing, "Tada! 6200 munny!"

"Sweet," Hayner cheered, while the others either clapped or cheered along with him. "Any chance I can hold that so I can get a feel for just how loaded we are now?"

"No way," Olette refused before turning to the other blonde of their group. "Here Roxas. You hold onto this, and don't let Hayner touch it." The indignant response that Hayner gave to that burn went largely ignored for the most part, but only because they were all excited to finally be heading out to the beach. "Let's get tickets!"

"Right behind you, Olette," Pence stated as he followed after the girl who had just counted up their earnings.

Xion and Roxas were about to follow when they realized that Hayner was still rooted to where he had stood, having already calmed down from the recent bit of playful ribbing that was thrown at him. "We can't be together forever," Hayner suddenly said, eyes downcast and tone a bit somber, much to the two's surprise. "So we'd better make the time we do have something to remember."

"Huh," Roxas asked, obviously confused by this sudden break from character.

"What's with you all of a sudden, Hayner," Xion questioned, just as surprised as her brother.

Hayner said nothing in response for a minute, until he finally grinned at the two, lightly socked Roxas in the arm, and exclaimed, "Gotcha!"

"Hey! Not cool," Xion whined in reply to Hayner's joke as said boy rushed up to the station entrance as well.

Roxas could only grin at the two and their antics before he started to follow them, but just as he had taken three steps forward, something suddenly hit him in the leg and caused him to trip. The minute she heard something heavy hit the ground, Xion immediately turned back to see that Roxas had fallen flat on his face, while a small, familiar looking stick hit the ground a few feet away from him. That was not the only thing that registered to her though, as there the man in a black coat from earlier was standing right next to Roxas as well. That made her worries spike quite a bit, and when she saw the man suddenly lift Roxas up by his arm, she quickly rushed towards the two. She was not sure why this stranger was appeared to suddenly be roughing up her brother, but she had a feeling that it was not just for how Roxas had accidentally hit him with that stick earlier.

Like Xion, Roxas had also deduced that this guy was the same man from earlier, but he was basing it on both his coat and his build, and he knew that he should probably be fighting against the guy with how roughly he had been hoisted up, but for some reason, Roxas did not even try to fight back against the guy. If there was any fight in Roxas to direct at this mystery man, it quickly vanished when the stranger asked him something in a deep voice that made him pause. "Can you feel Sora? Do you know if Xion can feel him?"

"What," Roxas gasped, completely caught off guard by the man suddenly mentioning the boy from his dreams, and the implication that his sister might know something about said boy.

By that point, Xion had gotten close enough to where she was able to hear the question, too, and immediately froze up when she heard it. Why would Roxas be able to feel this Sora person that she had been dreaming about? Did it have something to do with how Roxas was using the Keyblade that she had seen both herself and Sora using, or was there something else there that Roxas was not telling her? Those questions had left her mind so boggled that she barely even noticed that the stranger seemed to turn towards her until he actually spoke to her. "You should trust your brother. It has saved you both before, and may likely save you again."

Now Xion was confused and a little bit frightened on a number of levels. What could that have meant? She was not able to ponder it any further though, because the sound of their friends calling to them pulled both hers and Roxas's attention away from the man in the black coat. The two nodded to show that they had heard and then looked back to the man, only to find that he had vanished without a trace. Roxas just stared at where the guy had been standing for a few moments before he turned to Xion, silently asking if she saw where he went. When she shook her head in reply, Roxas decided that they should put it aside. After all, they did not have time to think about it too much. They only had a few minutes before the train left.

They made it inside just as Hayner was ordering five student tickets, so Roxas immediately reached to pull out the munny pouch from his pocket. That was when he suddenly found a new problem. His pocket was completely empty. Keeping calm, he figured that he probably just put the pouch in a different pocket, so he checked his other one, only to find nothing there either. Now he was getting worried, and began to frantically check the rest of his pockets, only to find that the pouch was not in any of them.

"Oh no," Roxas gasped after fishing around in one last pocket, earning him worried looks from his sister and friends.

"What's wrong," Hayner asked.

"I can't…It's not…" Roxas stuttered before his mind finally latched on to the only possible conclusion. "That guy…He took it!"

"Are you sure," Xion asked, not wanting it to be true, but finding no other reasonable conclusion on what had happened to the munny. After all, if Roxas had dropped the pouch, he would have noticed well before now.

"It had to have been him," Roxas insisted before he turned to race out of the station and chase down the thief.

"Where are you going," Olette called out, worriedly.

"Remember when I fell? That guy who pulled me up," Roxas asked his friends. "I had the munny before that. I'm betting that guy took it! He couldn't have gotten too…far?"

When Roxas suddenly trailed off at the end of his sentence, Xion turned to the others to see that they were all looking at him with odd, confused expressions. "Guy? What are you talking about," Hayner finally asked. "There was no guy."

"Yeah there was. Roxas and I both saw him, plain as day," Xion insisted. "How could any of you have missed him? He stuck out like a sore thumb in that coat of his."

The other three shared a small look between them before Olette said, "Xion, Roxas just fell all of a sudden, and then you freaked out and went to help him up. There wasn't anyone else there."

"Huh? But he…There wasn't…really," Roxas stuttered in confusion, looking at Xion for help, only to receive a helpless look in response. It was obvious that she believed him and had seen the guy in the black coat too, but she had no idea why the others were saying that he was not there. Either way it did not matter, because at that moment, they all heard the bell for the last train ring, indicating that they had ended up missing their chance to get to the beach, much to their shared disappointment.

* * *

While the gang was sad that they were not going to be heading out on their beach trip after all, a quick trip to McDuck's Tasty Treat Parlor to get some sea-salt ice cream using some spare munny that Olette had set aside from the collective funds just in case quickly raised their spirits, and soon enough, they were all sitting atop the clock tower to enjoy the ice cream and the amazing view of the sunset. At least, most of them were, as Roxas and Xion just sat there with their ice creams hanging in their hands as they tried to puzzle together what had happened. They both knew for a fact that there was a man there when Roxas had tripped, and there was no way that they could have both imagined the exact same thing. Not only that, but while they were waiting in line to get their ice cream, the two revealed that they had both heard the man speaking to them, and told each other what the man had said, both to each of them directly and indirectly. With all of that in mind, they knew there was no way that they could have imagined him being there, and that was without accounting for the fact that it was impossible for two people to imagine the exact same thing down to the last detail. So why was it that the others did not seem to have seen that pick-pocket?

It did not take much for the others to notice the two's distress, especially given how neither of them had even taken a small lick of their ice cream, and Olette was the first to point that out. "Hey, it's melting," she cautioned the two.

"Oh! Right," Xion nodded half-heartedly before she took a tiny bite out of the ice cream, feeling the salty yet sweat flavor grace her taste buds seconds later.

Roxas did not eat any of his own popsicle right away, but instead, just looked to the others and mumbled, "Sorry."

"Cheer up already," Hayner told his two buddies, his tone showing that there were no hard feelings, despite the disappointment.

"That was definitely weird though," Pence admitted.

"Strange," Olette nodded along.

"You said it," Hayner agreed.

Roxas and Xion said nothing in response, but did let out simple nods to show that they agreed with the other three before they put all their attention onto their ice cream. After a few more moments of silence, Roxas quietly muttered to himself, "'Can you feel Sora? Do you know if Xion can feel him?'"

Roxas was not sure what the stranger was implying right then, but he did know that it had something to do with his sister. Whatever it was, he had to find out, for Xion's sake if nothing else. Of course, Roxas was not the only one who was concerned about what the stranger had said, because Xion's thoughts were just as preoccupied with what he had told her. _"What did that guy mean when he said I should trust Roxas, and that doing so had saved us before,"_ Xion wondered to herself. _"Did something bad nearly happen to us? And just what should I be trusting Roxas with? Did he mean with the knowledge of my dreams? And if he did, how could he have known about them?"_

* * *

 _"Restoration at 28 percent,"_ the computer reported, much to DiZ's frustration.

"Naminé, hurry," the masked scientist muttered, partially to himself, knowing that they were running out of time.

His distress must not have been apparent, or at least not enough for the man who was tossing the munny pouch up and down in one hand to notice, because said individual could only ask one question of him, his tone disbelieving and a bit dry when he spoke. "Is it really that hard to make a beach?"

DiZ had expected that question to come up at some point, but he did not think it would come from the man he had been working with the longest as opposed to the armored Keyblade master was standing next to him. Still, he did have an answer at the ready all the same, and if he could see Ventus's face right now, he was sure that the man's expression would have been demanding an answer to that same question. "We'd be giving the enemy another entry point," DiZ replied as simply as he could.

"And it also serves as an excuse to not let the kids have any fun while they're in there, doesn't it," Ventus accused.

This time, DiZ did turn away from his various computer monitors so that he could face the Keyblade master, and stated, "If I did not wish for them to enjoy themselves, I would have placed them at a point when they were in school instead of summer vacation, while ensuring that they were always working. Or heaven forbid, not allowed them a chance to even taste sea-salt ice cream while they were in there."

The man in the coat stopped playing with the pouch so that he could stare at DiZ for a moment, and Ventus was sure that he could see the man's face under the hood, he would have seen an expression of disbelief. After another minute or so, the mystery man finally turned to Ventus and asked, "Is he serious?"

"Many things may have changed about him since I last met him years ago, but when it comes to his opinion of sea-salt ice cream, that is one of the few things that have not. Something I'm actually grateful for," Ventus admitted.

The man was not sure what to say to that, and instead just brought up another important topic as he held up the pouch. "And what do we do with this?"

DiZ looked at the pouch for a moment, before he suggested, "We can always buy some sea-salt ice cream for ourselves." His short, hollow laugh was the only response to his joke, as he was sure that both of the other two were giving him rather unamused looks in response to it, so he quickly turned serious once again. "Objects from that town must be kept out of the real world. You can delete that."

The man just shrugged in reply and returned to his previous activity with the pouch, until Ventus moved to stand next to him and whispered, "I wouldn't get rid of it just yet. It may come in handy later."

"Better safe than sorry right? Or do you just not want the rewards of their hard work to have gone to waste," the hooded man asked.

"Both," Ventus freely admitted as he turned his gaze back to the life monitor. "Besides, those two should have at least one souvenir from their time there when they come back out."

"And you really think that DiZ will let that happen," the man inquired as he discreetly pocketed the pouch.

Ventus left the question unanswered for a moment as he studied the scientist who was hard at work on the elaborate computer, monitoring the status of his first apprentice's recovery, and how the rest of Roxas and Xion's day went before they finally returned home to rest up for the day. "No, I don't," Ventus finally admitted as he watched the two kids in the virtual world get ready to turn in for the night. He then smiled a little behind his helmet as he added, "At least, not unless we help give the two a small push in rediscovering who they were a little more quickly, and I think we both know who can help with that."

If the stranger's face was not covered as much as his own, Ventus probably would have seen a smirk start to form on the his face as well, one that was very similar to the Keyblade master's, and showed that the man understood what the blonde had in mind. Of course, being able to see that would also mean that Ven would see the familiar face of someone that was supposed to have been defeated almost a year ago now, and the man in black was not quite willing to let the Keyblade master know of what had happened to him since they last met just yet, or any time soon if he could help it.

* * *

 ** _AN: So yeah, not much of a change here, but we did learn a little bit more about the workings of Twilight Town in this story. Like the reason behind the popularity of "DuckTales" in the story, a the location of where the gang normally gets their sea-salt ice cream from, and a little bit about Struggle and the tournament. Just to be clear, yeah, I changed the Four Crystal Trophy into a Five Crystal Trophy for a very obvious reason. I'm sure you can all figure out what that is._**

 ** _Xion: We did get to see a little more banter between me, Roxas, and the Twilight Town gang, too._**

 ** _AN: That is also true, and we saw that Xion is just as big of a Struggle player as Roxas and Hayner, while also explaining why she's not in the tournament with the boys. But don't worry, she'll get her chance to Struggle when the big day of the tournament arrives. And more than that, it looks like there's a few things going on with Xion and Roxas's memories, huh? I'm sure we can all figure out what the deal is there, right? Oh, and before I forget, a little something that I meant to answer in the opening note: the question of who Roxas and Xion's guardian is. Well, I suppose one answer would be to say that it is Ventus, but up until recently, he's been doing another job. If anything, it's just a cover for how DiZ is always manipulating the data in the virtual world so that the two have munny for the basic essentials of human living._**

 ** _Speaking of munny, I did in fact do all the math that was necessary when they were first adding up munny for the beach trip, and you can even double check it all if you'd like. Also, I've seen a few times where some people would earn enough munny to have more than what you actually needed for the trip in the game, so I decided to go with that route here as well, but I made sure to keep it realistic, as there was no way that they could've earned that much more than a collective sum of 6000 munny before they needed to get to the train station._**

 ** _Roxas: Speaking of the train station, looks like that encounter I had with Riku played out a bit differently this time around._**

 ** _AN: Well what do ya expect to happen there? For it to be exactly the same as before? Of course Riku, or rather our pick-pocket in a black coat was going to question Roxas about whether or not he could feel Sora, or if Xion could, but I'm betting you're all more curious about his comment to Xion, aren't you? Well...sorry, but no spoilers there._**

 ** _Xion: Oh foofie._**

 ** _Roxas: Isn't that Yuna's line?_**

 ** _AN: Well it was more of her cousin Rikku's line, from my understanding of Final Fantasy X, but that's beside the point. Hope everyone got a little bit of a laugh from Roxas and Xion's time outside the Usual Spot with the stick. I remember reading about that a few times, and seeing it in 358/2 Days, so I just had to include that in there._**

 ** _So, that covers everything, I believe, and ends one of the less eventful days of the summer vacation, so who wants to get a glimpse at the more exciting times of Day 3? Well, here ya go. Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _With another round of strange dreams about both the adventures Sora shared with his master and friends, and ones about themselves in an odd set of circumstances, comes the start of a new day for Roxas and Xion. The difference being that the day is going to be even stranger than the last two had been before, as they encounter someone that may have some of the answers they're looking for. Of course, this same girl also has the effect of rendering Roxas a bit speechless and completely mystified by her beauty, much to Xion's amusement, but any teasing that the girl could dish out to her brother is put on hold when they encounter more of the silver creature that was responsible for the theft of all the photos. Just who is this mysterious, blonde girl in white? How does she know the two? And can they unravel at least one of the mysteries that have been on their minds lately? Find out just what day three has in store, next time._**

 ** _Yeah, you all know just who's going to show up next chapter, and it's going to be quite the interesting time for our two newest heroes. Until then..._**

 ** _Please read and review, and see ya real soon!_**


	3. Summer Vacation: Day 3

_**AN: Okay, this took a little bit longer than I originally thought, and ended up being a longer chapter than originally expected too, but either way, the chapter's done, and we're now rolling on in with Day 3 of Roxas and Xion's summer vacation, which doubles as chapter 3 of Keyblade Legion!**_

 _ **[audience applause]**_

 _ **Xion: So, are we going to answer reviews, or just get right into the chapter, 'cause you have a tendency to go with the latter when you think the chapter's really long.**_

 _ **AN: Don't worry, don't worry. We'll answer a few reviews first. I don't see the harm in it. Where do we start though?**_

 _ **Roxas: How about with "Haxorus Knight"? Namely his question about the Keyblade armor mechs?**_

 _ **AN: Eh, sure why not? To keep it simple, while the idea is intriguing, there's just no place for it in this story. Maybe another one later down the line of the series, but in this case, we won't be seeing anything like that. Next!**_

 _ **Sora: Hey! How about this one from "Dragon Rider 66"?**_

 _ **AN: What the-?! Sora! Shouldn't you be sleeping or something right now?**_

 _ **Sora: That's just in the main story! No one said I can't show up in these things now. Besides, I'm bored out of my mind!**_

 _ **AN: Then go make out with Kairi or something! It's too soon for you to be making a debut!**_

 _ **Sora &Kairi: [blush scarlet red]**_

 _ **AN: Ahem! Anyways, to answer the question posed in said review, I'm afraid that any more information regarding the Keyblades that Roxas and Xion wield will be kept under wraps until we get to the chapter when it will be unveiled for all to see.**_

 _ **Let's roll it on over to "theIrishWriter", regarding his question of Roxas and Xion's guardian and the involvement of other characters. First off, the guardian is really more of a thing that was just planted in their heads to help with the illusion that they're living in, but if it were an actual person, I would say that it would most likely be either Ventus, DiZ, or even both. The two may not like each other, but they are willing to support the kids like a proper parental figure as long as they have too. DiZ begrudgingly so.**_

 _ **DiZ: You make it seem like I'm such a villain.**_

 _ **AN: Because from a few different perspectives, you technically are. I mean, look what you did to Roxas and ordered Riku to do to**_ ** ** _Namin_** ** _é_**** _ **.**_

 _ **DiZ:...Fair enough. But at least I'm attempting to atone for my mistakes unlike other individuals.**_

 _ **AN: Now, on the matter of Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie's involvement, there's currently no real plans beyond what we saw in canon for them at this time. Last time it was easy to get them involved, since Destiny Islands had fallen to darkness, in the first story, but this time there's no real way for them to really get involved without someone going to Destiny Islands and picking them up, or some other crazy magic with a few side effects coming into play. At least, not as far as I can see right now.**_

 _ **Roxas: Hey, here's a good one from "Ronin Warriors Fanatic". The matter of the Lingering Will fight.**_

 _ **AN: Right...well to be honest, I had not really thought about including it too much, mainly because it's hard to really find a place to integrate it into the main story, so I wouldn't really hold my breath on that right now. Maybe that will change later on down the line, and I'll at least mention it happening in an epilogue or something, but for now...it's still up in the air. It does have a more likely chance of showing up than Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie getting more involved with the main story at the moment though, so there's that.**_

 _ **Now let's get on over to the review left by our old buddy "Monkey D. Conan", starting with his questions about Sora's Keyblade. While I do agree that the Fenrir Keyblade is cool, I feel that it looks a little too much like the new Keyblade that Riku will be getting in Kingdom Hearts 3, so I don't think that I'll be using it as the evolved form of Kingdom Key, assuming there's a Keyblade out there that could count as that. Although, I don't think I ever really noticed how the Kingdom Key looked small next to Sora in KH2 (and I have been playing through the game again recently just for the sake of improving my focus on this story), so I feel like I would've noticed by now. He'll still be using Kingdom Key for the most part, but I can guarantee that it'll be properly adjusted to Sora's recent growth spurt.**_

 _ **Moving along to your question about Aqua and her Keyblade. For now, I can confirm that she is still using Master's Defender, but as for whether or not she'll be getting back her original Keyblade and armor...sorry, not telling! Yet.**_

 ** _Regarding your question about when Roxas and Xion will meet Ventus (or more accurately, when they will meet him again), I can say it will be before they leave the virtual world, but it won't be until some of the very last moments there. As for the memories they get back...well, let's just say that it won't really seem like too much to anyone really, and that will be a bit of a problem for everyone that will need to be resolved later on down the line. As for your question about how the young Keyblade Warriors/Warriors-to-be are stacked up when it comes to specialties of powers, well...that's a little hard for me to really pin down if we're going into specifics on those abilities you listed. If I had to guess, I'd say that Roxas most excels at swordplay, physical abilities, Command Styles, and probably flowmotion, while his magic is just good enough for him to rely on it when he really needs to; Riku's good with swordplay, decent with flowmotion, mainly focuses on the variety of magic he knows best, and physical abilities, while his Command Style and Shotlock abilities are not that great due to being mostly self-taught, unlike the other four; Xion's good in swordplay, various magic, and flowmotion, while being relatively decent with Command Styles and Shotlocks; Kairi's main specialty is magic and other similar abilities like that, while being just decent enough with swordplay, but has an impressive handle on flowmotion to help make up for that and enhance it; and Sora is a little bit of everything, with his Shotlocks being slightly better than Command Style abilities, due to the fact that he tends to only excel with his personal Command Styles more than any of the others. Just to be clear, this is only off the top of my head as I'm writing this response down, and it could easily change over time, so you'll just have to wait and see how things unfold to know for sure about that._**

 ** _Ventus: I think there's a couple of guest reviews that you wanted to answer too, right?_**

 ** _AN: Yes, first off to the "Guest" from 9/26/2018 who asked about Aqua's status at this time, sorry, but I can't say what happened to Aqua just yet, but I will say that we will see her again...in the next chapter._**

 ** _Ventus: Yes! [punches the air in victory]_**

 ** _AN: [rolls eyes at Ven in good humor] And as for the "Guest" of 9/26/2018, who commented on Ven rocking the Thor beard, there's actually a huge difference between that and Aqua getting a haircut. See in Aqua's case, the longer hair just did not work for her at all, a fact that she herself acknowledged but did not want to deal with while they were in the midst of stopping the crisis in Keyblades of Future Past. Meanwhile, Ven's beard serves more of a purpose in that it better shows that he's grown up a lot since the age of BBS, and also helps to better differentiate him from Roxas. Sure, it helps that Ven's taller, and has put on a little more muscle since that time, but something as noticeable as a beard really helps to finalize the physical differences between the two. Besides that, I just think that Ven is the type who would look good with a beard, and who would grow one out when he grew up because he thought as much._**

 ** _Well, that's a wrap on review answers, so let's get on with the excitement we have in store for you guys, and Roxas and Xion for today! Summer Vacation Day 3 is here, everybody!_**

 ** _I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story._**

* * *

 **Chapter III**

Another night meant another dream for the twins, and like always, unknown to one another, they were both seeing visions of the boy Sora and his three friends, Donald, Goofy, and Ventus. However, just like the previous night, the visions they would see this time would be different, as they would also include a few other visions as well beyond just the story of Sora and the others. Yes, they would also be seeing something that looked like they had lived another life at some point that they could not remember, but for Roxas, there would be one other thing as well. Tonight, he would also be seeing something that would change his life in ways that he could not have imagined before.

* * *

 _"As a Keybearer, you must already know, be it because of your master's teaching or even your travels, one must not meddle in the affairs of other worlds," King Triton of Atlantica scolded, while a disheartened looking Ven floated behind him._

 _"I know what you're thinking, Sora, but you can't let that get to you," Ventus tried to tell the kid at some point after Triton had left. "Not everyone is going to be appreciative of our actions, and some will even call us the bad guys simply because they misunderstood our intentions, or even for no real reason at all beyond needing someone to blame for their troubles, but if we let the harsh words of others affect our judgment, then we might as well just throw in the towel now." The scene shifted again in its usual bit of a bad television picture, this time to show that King Triton was hurt, but was smiling in relief and showing that he was not really as upset over the Keybearers' presence as he had made it seem, while Ventus was giving Sora an important lesson "It doesn't matter what anyone else says, be it our enemies, our friends, or even a random stranger. They don't decide who you are; you do, and not by words alone, but by our choices and the actions we take. Even if an entire world hates us, we can never let that stop us from doing our duty as Keyblade wielders. Or Keyblade wielders who fight for what is truly good and right for the worlds at least."_

 _Sora let all of that sink in for a minute until he finally managed to let a true smile cross his face, and said, "I understand, Ven."_

 _The scene shifted again to the inside of a grotto, where a redhead mermaid then let out a small sigh as she added, "So many places I want to see…I know I'll get there someday. I'll find a way somehow. I'm sure of it."_

 _"Good," Ventus smiled, surprising Ariel a little. She had thought that he was going to tell her to forget about it or something, but from the smile the blonde was wearing, which matched the one that Sora was giving her, he really meant it. "Never even think about giving up on your dreams, Ariel, because as long as you believe in them, anything can become possible."_

 _The scene shifted once more, as it showed the four standing before a massive, muscular man and a short, chubby looking satyr, and it looked like the satyr was reading off an official declaration of some kind. "Thus, I do hereby dub thee junior heroes…"_

 _"Hey! What do you mean 'junior heroes,'" Donald demanded, heatedly._

 _"You three rookies still don't understand what it takes to be a true hero," Phil waved off as he stowed away the paper, knowing he would not be likely to get any further in his speech._

 _It then showed Ventus looking down at Sora as he explained, "There's a lot more to being a true hero or a Keyblade Wielder in general, let alone a master than just being a strong fighter."_

 _The scene then shifted once again, as the view changed to show an Arabian man sitting inside of a rundown building as he slowly raised his head and began to speak, while Sora, Ven, Donald, and Goofy seemed to look on with baited breathes. "I…I wish…for your freedom, Genie."_

 _Genie had made a show of rolling up his nonexistent sleeves as he prepared to grant what he thought would be Aladdin's wish, until it registered that the kid had not said what he had been expecting him to say. "What? Al," Genie gasped._

 _A moment later, everyone watched a twister of magic erupted from the lamp, swirling around Genie at a rapid pace that most of them could only equate it to the lights of an incredible meteor shower on a moonlit night. When the twister finally came to an end, it did so in an eruption that revealed Genie's lower half had changed from being a ghostly tail to a pair of long blue legs with brown, pointed shoes, and shortly afterwards, the gold bracelets he wore on his wrists snapped off and vanished in a flash of light, revealing that they were more akin to cuffs than they were bracelets. By the time Genie's latest transformation had been completed, the lamp had dropped down to the floor with a loud clatter, indicating that its power was now gone, and prompting Genie to slowly bend down and pick it up himself, just to confirm for himself that it no longer had any power over him._

 _When he did not sense anything coming from the lamp, he could not help but laugh a little as he whispered, "I'm free…I'm free!"_

 _The scene then shifted again to show a tall skeleton in a metal room looking rather sad "Sally, why didn't I listen to you," the skeleton moaned to a girl that looked like she had been stitched together and then given. Out of everyone there, he owed Sally the greatest apology of all. She had tried to tell him that using the Heartless was a bad idea, and yet he had just brushed it off as needless worrying._

 _Sally on the other hand just smiled, glad to see that the skeleton now knew better about his old plans, and quickly grasped his hand in reassurance as she said, "Don't feel bad, Jack. We'll come up with another plan for Halloween. Next time, we'll do it together."_

 _The scene then shifted once more to show Sora holding up a small object above his head, before he shouted out, "Summon!"_

 _When the summoning spell began, the whole area immediately around Sora became engulfed in hot, ash-filled smoke that made it hard to really see anything that was inside. That alone was reason enough for the mystery man to pause and attempt to figure out what Sora could be planning while he was behind this little smoke screen. A minute later, a large, red dragon head seemed to rise up from the smoke, glaring down on the mystery man as it growled, until finally, it lost its silhouette and revealed a dragon with large eyes, red skin, and a yellow-orange belly. "Tremble in fear, for the mighty Mushu lives," the dragon roared loudly. He then grinned savagely as he added, "So tell me who's looking to get a face full of my fire and dragon fury. You just say the word, and I'm there."_

 _"HEY," Sora shouted, putting an end to Mushu's show of ferocity just as the dragon was starting to snarl dangerously. "Are you really a dragon?"_

 _"Yes, of course, kid. What do you think I am," Mushu demanded hotly. "And if you say lizard, I'm gonna have to get my dragon dandruff up! I don't do that tongue thing."_

 _"Well it's just…You're…Tiny," Sora finally said. Indeed, Mushu was in fact very small, to the point where he only reached Sora's knee at most when standing up straight._

 _"Of course! I'm travel-size for your convenience. If I was my real size everyone in here would die of fright," Mushu explained, sounding more than a tad bit boastful near the end._

 _The scene then shifted again, showing Sora and the others standing in the same world where the four first met, while Sora was shown using another summon charm. This time though, a masked man in red and blue with a spider emblem on his back and chest swung down on a web-line, while snagging several Heartless as he went. "Can you give us a hand," Sora asked the man._

 _"You don't even have to ask. I mean, this does look like a job for your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, after all," the masked man nodded, and he was soon spinning and swinging into action a second later._

 _"What kind of place is your world," Ven could be heard asking as several more scenes of Spider-Man in action played before the mind's eye._

 _"Well, let's just say that it's one that's full of marvels," Spider-Man shrugged, and he immediately swung down from his current perch to his next target._

 _Another scene came in, this time with Ven using a summoning charm, and from it, came a young, alien-looking woman with dark orange skin, brownish-gray lips, and bright blue eyes that seemed to burn with unbridled courage, while upon her head was not hair, but what appeared to be some type of horns that were white with blue stripes, and extended down to her shoulders. Her attire consisted of a burgundy top with a decorative hole in the front, dark grey leggings with diamonds cut into the sides, three armbands on each arm, dark combat boots and gloves, and crossed belts that held what looked like two silver hilts. The most shocking thing about this young woman was when she levitated the two hilts into her hands, and then activated them to reveal that they were a pair of energy swords, one full-length green blade and the other being a shorter yellow blade. With both of her sabers activated, the woman then made of show of spinning the two swords around in her hands before holding the yellow saber in front of her while the green blade was in the back, both in a reverse grip, similar to what Ventus used when he fought with his Keyblade._

 _"A Jedi! An actual Jedi," Ventus gasped in awe._

 _The scene then shifted to show the Jedi smiling at the group, as she said, "I appreciate the compliment, Keyblade Master, but I'm actually not a Jedi yet. My name's Ahsoka Tano, Padawan Learner to Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker."_

 _The scene shifted once more to show the gang in Traverse Town again, at a moment when Ven gave Sora quite the shocking revelation._ " _Sora, when we first met I was able to sense a powerful light within you. That's normal, seeing as you had just gained a Keyblade, but there was more to it than that. There was another light in your heart; one that was far too powerful to only be from your own, and it didn't have a trace of darkness in it. The light that can only come from the heart of a Princess of Heart."_

 _"Are you saying that Sora has a Princess of Heart's heart inside of him," Donald asked._

 _"That's exactly what I'm saying," Ventus confirmed. "I wasn't really sure who it could have been though, but after hearing about his friend from him, I figured that there was a chance that it could be…" Once again, the sentence was cut off before a name could be given, while the faint image of a girl with red hair flashed briefly in the mind's eye, and did so again when there was another interruption in the next part of Ven's revelation._ _"Your friend…is not only a Princess of Heart, she's also inside of your heart, or at least her heart is."_

 _"Her heart…is…inside of me," Sora stuttered in shock. "But…how…when…why?"_

 _"I only know the answer to that first question, Sora, but only because it's the obvious one," Ventus tried to lightly joke, but his face became serious once again. "I think that, when your islands fell to darkness, her heart somehow found its way inside of you so that it could take shelter._

 _"Her body is out there somewhere, and from an outside perspective, one would think that she was in a sleep-like comatose state. That means she's vulnerable to anything and everything, and if we want to even attempt to restore her heart to her body, we need to find it first."_

 _"And after we do that, we'd still need to keep her safe after putting her heart back where it belongs," Sora finished._

 _"Exactly," Ventus nodded._

 _The scene shifted again to show Riku standing before the group, looking rather smug in a dangerous way as he asked, "Or are you too cool to play them now that you have the Keyblade?"_

 _"Riku! Wh-what are you doing here," Sora asked before another image of the red haired girl appeared over the scene for a brief time. "Did you find any clues about her?"_

 _The scene shifted again to show Ventus battling it out against a pirate with a black beard and a hook for a left hand, dressed in red, until said pirate backed Ventus into a corner. "What's the matter, is the poor little master not able to fly away," the pirate mocked. "Not that it's surprising. The poor little boy doesn't have any true happy thoughts left to carry him up and away, so maybe Riku was right to say that you're not a real master. Just a scared little boy playing pretend."_

 _"You be quiet! Ven's got plenty of happy thoughts, and we're all standing right here," Donald snapped at the pirate._

 _"Yeah, after all, we're some of Ven's bestest buddies, and we're not gonna let him try to handle anything on his own if there's something we can do to help him," Goofy hollered in agreement._

 _"Besides Ven, don't you remember what I told you before? Aqua's okay and close to finding a way back," Sora reminded his master. "Think about how you felt when you heard that, because I remember you being close to the point of shedding tears of joy. She wouldn't want you to give up now, and neither do we."_

 _Ventus looked over his friends in awe for a minute or two, hardly believing how sure they sounded, until he noticed a small fairy with blonde hair, dressed in green flying over to hover near him with a smile on her face. The little fairy had something to say as well, and this time when she spoke, Ventus did not simply hear ringing bells, but instead, actual words, as he understood exactly what Tinker Bell was saying for the first time._ **"I believe in you, Master Ventus."**

 _That seemed to be all the encouragement that Ven needed before he pushed back and was seen beating the pirate until he was knocked over the side of the ship and into the water, where he immediately began swimming away from a hungry crocodile, much to the amusement of Ven and the others. Another scene shift showed Sora standing at the railing in silence before he finally said, "I still can't believe it." The next thing anyone knew, the kid was looking up at the sky with a huge grin. "I really flew! Wait 'til I tell Riku and everyone else back home! I wonder if any of them will believe me. Probably not."_

"I'd hate to admit it, but even I would probably have a hard time believing it if I hadn't seen it happen," _the cheerful voice of the redhead girl teasingly admitted, apparently from within Sora's mind, but it did nothing to bring down Sora's apparently good mood._

 _When the scene changed again, it showed the blonde fairy from before flying around Ventus, and then creating what looked like a summon charm and a strange looking keychain. Sora and the other two then watched as Ven smiled and said, "Okay then. Welcome to the team, Tink."_

 _The next scene shift showed the four meeting with a man with blonde spiky hair, and a large sword on his back, to which Sora said, "I'm searching too."_

 _"For your light," the swordsman questioned, just as another image of the redhead briefly appeared. "Don't lose sight of it."_

 _Another scene change occurred, where Sora could be seen walking away from what looked like living, stuffed animals, as the smallest one asked, "Sora, where are you going?"_

 _"I'm gonna go look for my friends. They're waiting for me," Sora replied. With that said, the other stuffed animals all waved goodbye, with the most notable being a small bear in a red shirt._

 _The scene shifted again, to show Sora standing before Riku on the pirate ship from earlier, and it was clear that they were on opposite sides. "Where are Donald, Goofy, and Ven, Riku," Sora demanded, sounding like he was not in the mood to play games right now._

 _Riku seemed to immediately scowl in response as he said, "Instead of worrying about them, you should be asking…about her."_

 _Riku then stepped aside to reveal the someone had been behind him, but the image of them was quickly distorted as it showed the blurry image of the redhead again, while said girl's voice could be heard calling out in an echo,_ "My body!"

 _Another scene shift showed Sora, Ven, and the redhead, now apparently back to normal, racing through a destroyed town to a woman who appeared unconscious until Ven and the redhead started casting some healing magic. Shortly after the spells had done their job, the woman arose to reveal her mismatch colored eyes, one blue and the other green, while her full attire could be better viewed as well. In its entirety, it could only be described as being rather regal while enhancing her already beautiful features. She wore a black camisole underneath a white sash that wrapped around her neck and over her chest, tucked into a yellow sash that was tied into a bow at her back and wrapped around her middle, while her arms were left bare save for the white sleeves that reached from the middle of her upper arms down to her wrists. Along with that, she also wore a flowing, purple pleated dress with flower patterns running along it, and a pair of black boots with small, almost unnoticeable heals. To complete her outfit, they saw that she also wore a blue-beaded earring on her right ear, though it was mostly hidden by a lock of her hair, with said earring being woven into blue beads with gold rings around a larger bead in the middle, along with a silver pendant hanging around her neck on a thin necklace._

 _"I'm Summoner Yuna from the Spira island of Besaid," the woman's voice could be heard saying._

 _"It's an honor to meet a summoner of Spira, Lady Yuna," Ventus could be heard replying._

 _The scene shifted once again to show Sora and Ven each sealing a Keyhole before it showed a faint, blurry image of Riku, before quickly turning its attention to another blurry image of the red haired girl that appeared behind him. The images quickly faded out though, as it then began to come more into focus on a moment that saw Xion down on the ground behind a man with long, silver hair, dressed in the same black coat at the other members of the strange group that she and Roxas seemed to be part of, while the Keyblade sat between them, stabbed into the ground._

 _After panting for a few moments, Xion finally just collapsed, and could do nothing to stop the silver haired boy from approaching her. When he finally came close enough, she could see that he was wearing a blindfold for some reason, which he briefly removed so that he could look at her with one, blue-green eye, which quickly helped to better identify him as Riku, now a little older and grown up than he had been in the other visions. Said eye immediately widened in shock as soon as he got a look at Xion, and he immediately jumped back after placing the blindfold back on properly. "Your face…who are you really, and why do you have a Keyblade," Riku demanded._

 _Xion did not immediately reply, but instead, just slid her hood back on before looking up at Riku and trying to make her voice sound as intimidating as possible under the circumstances. "Tell me first…why you are dressed as one of us."_

 _Riku just stared at her for a minute before walking over to her dropped Keyblade, and plucking it out of the ground as he said, "To make sure my best friend…sleeps in peace." He looked over the Keyblade for a few minutes before he then added, "I don't know who you're supposed to be, but…you can't fight fire with sparks. This Keyblade, it's a sham—worthless."_

 _Xion just watched in shock as the silver haired boy tossed her Keyblade back over to her, barely able to do anything to keep it from clattering onto the ground next to her while vicious anger rose up inside of her. "My Keyblade is not a sham," Xion snarled before she spun to face him and shouted, "What gives you the right to say that?!"_

 _The next thing she knew, Xion was grabbing the Keyblade and charging him in anger, only for the taller boy to spin under her swing and land a solid hit on her back with his fist, knocking her down once again. After she fell, the Keyblade vanished, apparently having already sensed that it's wielder no longer had much strength left to fight, while the boy stood up straight again and advised, "Find a new crowd. Trust me. Those guys are bad news."_

 _Despite having already felt as much from her own observations, Xion was not about to let this guy talk down to her as though she were a stupid child and walk away, and she immediately retorted, "Why? You're the real sham!"_

 _That made the blindfolded man halt in his retreat, and he remained quiet for a moment before he finally shrugged and said, "Fair enough. You could say I am…the biggest nobody of them all."_

 _There was nothing that Xion could say in response to that, and she could not believe the way this guy had apparently mocked her, shamed her, and basically thrown all of her hard work in her face like this. All she could do was scream out in anger and sorrow while hot tears slowly started to form in her eyes. It was a very disheartening scene, and one would be very glad to see it change to a moment that saw Roxas and Xion sitting atop the clock tower of Twilight Town, apparently enjoying some ice cream, had there not been a distinctive heaviness in the air. That heaviness only grew after Roxas had gotten Xion's attention after multiple tries._

 _"Something wrong," Roxas inquired._

 _"Sorry. My mind's on other things," Xion tried to play off, but it did not seem like Roxas was buying it. After a moment or two, the girl asked, "Roxas, do you ever think…about why we're doing all of this?"_

 _"What do you mean, why? So we can get hearts of our own, right," Roxas replied like it was obvious, though he did not sound entirely sure of it himself._

 _That answer did not seem to satisfy Xion, as she simply turned to look out at the view of Twilight Town with a downcast expression before asking, "But what do we need hearts for?"_

 _"I don't know," Roxas quietly admitted. "But I think once we have hearts, we probably won't have to think about why we're doing all this, or if we need hearts."_

 _It sounded reasonable, but somehow, it also sounded like Roxas was just repeating someone else's words, and Xion could easily tell within seconds of him saying that. "I'm not sure. I just wish…I knew what I was doing here."_

 _Roxas now looked a little more concerned as he placed a hand on Xion's shoulder and said, "Hey, I may not know that, but I do know that I'm here for you if you need me, Sis."_

 _"Huh? 'Sis,'" Xion repeated, not expecting Roxas to call her that._

 _Roxas's expression turned sheepish at that, before he said, "Well…Axel told me that sometimes, siblings or friends who are like siblings with one another call each other things like 'Sis' or 'Bro', and well…I'd like to think that if I had a sister before, then she was probably a lot like you."_

 _"You think of me…like a sister," Xion inquired. "I thought we were just friends."_

 _"We are friends, but even without anything the others say, I know that you and are both special, and there's just something about you that makes me feel like I already have a heart, and like I want to help you any way that I can," Roxas explained._

 _Xion's sad expression turned thoughtful for a minute before a small smile started to form on her face as she said, "Thanks Roxas. I appreciate that." Her smile faded a little though before she said, "Even if there is a chance that I'm just a mistake."_

 _"What? Where did you get that idea from? Saïx," Roxas inquired, and her silence was all the confirmation that he needed. "He may be the one who assigns missions, but he's also nothing more than a big bully, or at least, what I think is a bully, based on what Axel told me about people like that the other day." When he saw that this did not seem to be helping her too much, he quickly added, "Hey, don't worry. If he ever gives you anymore trouble, you can just come and let me know. I'm sure I can do something to help make you feel better or even straighten him out."_

 _Now that got Xion to giggle a little before she said, "Sorry Roxas, but I'm pretty sure you wouldn't last too long against Saïx."_

 _"Well…maybe. But if I got Axel to help out," Roxas tried to defend himself, only to get a few more giggles from Xion, until they both fell into comfortable laughter._

 _The scene shifted again, this time showing Xion waking up in the arms of the same blindfolded man as before. Despite knowing that she should feel anger towards him, Xion was only overcome with intrigue. "Are you…"_

 _"Riku. Sora's friend," the silver haired man replied, confirming what one would have already suspected._

 _"Sora," Xion gasped as she started to sit up. "You know Sora?"_

 _"Yeah," Riku replied as he stood up, and then offered her a hand to help her up as well._

 _Xion gratefully accepted and stood as well before nodding, "Thank you. You saved me, but I don't know why…you did."_

 _"I guess…I just felt like it," Riku shrugged before he started to walk off._

 _"Riku, please," Xion called out, making him pause in his retreat. "Tell me more…about Sora and that girl he's always with. She's the one who looks so much like me."_

 _There must have been something in between, because the scene suddenly shifted to a point where Riku was standing in front of Xion as he said, "To Sora, she's someone very special."_

 _"It's just…I remember things about the two of them, but I'm…"_

 _Whatever else was said between the two would not likely be known any time soon, as the scene immediately faded to black, before being replaced with an image of Roxas in Twilight Town, standing before the figure clad in armor from the last dream. "Who are you," Roxas asked, his fingers already flexing so that he could summon his Keyblade._

 _The armored man just stared in silence for a minute before he calmly stated, "I'm someone who wants to help you…and the one you call a sister. Partly because it will save you two, and partly because you can both help me save Sora."_

 _"Sora? You know him," Roxas gasped, dropping his guard all at once._

 _The armored man just nodded and said, "I do, though it would be strange if I didn't know my own apprentice."_

 _"So then…You're…" Roxas started to say, only to silence himself when the armored man raised a single finger up to signal for quiet._

 _"Your guess is correct, but let's not go blurting out such information here," the armored man suggested. "Your sister has already come to us seeking answers, and we can help you both. However, it has to be your choice and yours alone. Not something that's influenced by what the ones around you say."_

 _"But how…how can I make my own choice when I've got nothing to go off of other than what Xion, Axel, and all the others have told me," Roxas asked._

 _The armored man just stared at Roxas for a minute, before Roxas got the impression that the man behind the helmet was smiling at him as he said, "Just look inside yourself. You'll find something that has been steadily forming there which holds the answer."_

* * *

That was when the dreams had ended for Xion, and she awoke with a start. When she felt a small wetness on her face, she quickly raised her hand up to feel tears streaming down from her eyes a little bit. She quickly rubbed them away, not wanting Roxas to worry about her if he saw them, and then jumped out of bed to prepare for the day, thinking that Roxas was already up. When she got to the kitchen though, she saw no sign of her brother, drawing a feeling of confusion over her. There was very little chance that she was actually up before Roxas, but it had happened from time to time. The problem was, Xion knew that it only happened if Roxas had stayed up later than her, and Xion knew for a fact that they had both hit the sack at the same time last night, so why did it seem like he was not already up. She quickly moved to the sink to see if there were any recently discarded dishes that would show if he had already gotten up and left without her, but she found no such signs, and after waving her hand over the stove, she could tell that it had not been used since there was no lingering heat.

With no other explanation to go off of, Xion turned to go back upstairs to her brother's room so that she could wake him up. At that thought, Xion had to smirk a little when she realized this would be a perfect chance for her to pay him back for his little prank a couple days ago, and her pace up to his room quickened a little bit. Little did she suspect that he was still in the midst of his own version of their strange dreams, and that it had one little extra detail in it.

* * *

 _The first thing to be seen was what looked like a laboratory of some kind, with a large, odd-looking computer situated in one corner. Seated at the computer was a man dressed in a red cloak, whose head was wrapped up in thick red bandages of some kind. It was hard to really get a feel for what this place was or what the man was doing here, but if there was one thing that was certain, it was that he was not doing anything for entirely noble purposes. There was just something about him that seemed to indicate that he had an ulterior purpose for anything that he did, be it good or bad. Thankfully, he did not remain in sight of the mind's eye for long, and something much more interesting soon formed in the place of the strange man._

 _When the scene shifted again, one could see a large, mostly empty, white room, with a massive, egg-shaped pod in the center. The most interesting thing though, was that there was a person standing in front of the pod, and even from a distance, one could easily tell that the person was a girl. It was a little hard to really see that much of her, but from a distance, one could see that she wore a white dress and had blonde hair that ran a little past her shoulders. A moment later, it became a little easier to see her, as the room she was standing in disappeared, leaving only her standing in a large void of blackness. Without anything else in the way, one could see that she was a little pale, but not to an unhealthy level, and that the hem of the white dress she wore came down to around her mid-thighs. On her feet, one could also see a pair of light blue sandals, and even from the back, one would also be able to tell that her blonde hair draped over her right shoulder._

 _"Who are you," Roxas's voice could be heard asking, and the girl seemed to hear him, as she quickly turned around to face him. He could not see all of her face, but from what he could see, it was easy to tell that she had rosy cheeks, and pale pink lips that slowly curved upwards into a smile right before she disappeared into the darkness surrounding her._

* * *

With the final moments of his dream at an end, Roxas slowly began to wake up, and from the sunlight pouring in through his window, even if it was still sunlight that was normal at the hours of twilight, he quickly figured out that he had overslept a little bit. Shockingly, he was not too worried about that. As long as he was up before Xion, he had nothing to worry about, unless this was one of those rare days when she actually got up early on her own. Just as he had gotten up into a sitting position though, he suddenly felt like there was someone else in the room with him, and he immediately turned to face them. His eyes were met with nothing more than his own, empty room, but all the same, Roxas was certain that someone had just been in the room, watching him as he woke up. The strangest thing was, he did not feel the least bit freaked out like he probably should have been. If anything, he actually felt something…well, he was not sure how to describe what he had been feeling just now, but he did know that it was certainly not a bad feeling.

His musings on the matter quickly ended when a loud knock came from the other side of the door, followed by Xion's voice. "Roxas," his sister called. "Are you up yet?"

"Uh…Yeah. I just woke up," Roxas replied.

"Seriously," Xion asked before she let herself in, knowing that Roxas would have said not to if he did not want her coming in. "Did you stay up a little later last night than I thought, or did something wake you up in the middle of the night?"

"Neither. Just…a really weird dream," Roxas admitted, not saying any more than that, hoping that Xion would just let it go. It seemed pretty easy for her to do so, and he was thankful for that, but that was before he noticed the faint traces of tear tracks on her face. "Xion, were you crying earlier?"

Xion cursed in her head for not thinking to double check her appearance in a mirror before she came to get her brother, and let out a small sigh before she admitted, "No, not really. I just had a really bad dream." She kept silent after that before she finally asked, "Roxas…do you think I'm a sham, or a mistake?"

"What?! Xion where in the world did you get that idea from," Roxas demanded, surprised beyond measure that his sister would ever ask that question.

"It's just…there was someone a little while back that said something like that to me, and well…I couldn't help but think that…" Xion stuttered, not really sure how to properly put it without telling Roxas about her weird dreams. She probably should have thought this through in advance before she said anything.

"Xion, look at me for a minute," Roxas requested as he sprang up from his bed and grasped her shoulders, just to make extra sure that she was paying attention to him. When the raven haired girl locked her gaze on him, Roxas stated, "It doesn't matter what anyone else says, what they think, or what they tell you. I don't care if they're even the literal king of the world or the universe. You are _not_ a sham, a mistake, or any other bad thing out there. You are a good person with a kind heart and soul. You're my sister. And most importantly, you're you, and not anyone else. You got that memorized, Sis?"

Xion did not immediately reply. Instead, she just stared at Roxas, honestly not believing how passionately he had said all of that, yet admiring him for it at the same time. It really was amazing to her that he believed that so fiercely, and she knew that Roxas cared about everyone around him a lot, especially in her case, but that never made hearing it any less significant or special. After a few more moments, Xion finally smiled as brightly as she could, reminding Roxas again why so many folks found his sister to be so cute, and said, "Yeah, perfectly memorized. Thanks, Bro."

"Any time," Roxas nodded in return as he pulled her in for a quick hug. Xion happily reciprocated the gesture, but became a little confused when Roxas pulled back and scrunched his eyebrows in thought for a minute.

"What's the matter," Xion asked.

"It's nothing," Roxas waved off. "Hey, how about you make breakfast today, seeing as I'm still not ready yet? No point in waiting around for me to make something and causing us to be late for meeting up with the others."

"Okay, but don't expect anything spectacular," Xion cautioned playfully as she turned to leave, but Roxas was not going to let her leave without one last comment.

"Oh, and Xion, just so you know, anyone who ever calls you any nasty thing like that, will have to answer to me, no question," Roxas promised. That earned him a giggle of thanks from his sister, and she quickly left the room after that. With his sister now out of the room, Roxas quickly started getting dressed, but the whole time he was doing so, he could not help but wonder about that girl he saw at the end of his dream, the presence that he had felt in his room before Xion arrived at the door, and something else that refused to leave him alone. "'Got it memorized?' Just where did that come from, and why do I feel like I used to hear someone say that almost all the time?"

* * *

Later on that same day, after a simple breakfast of cereal and toast, the siblings were on their way down to the usual place like always. The only difference was that Roxas just could not get last night's dreams or the little talk with Xion out of his head. Sure, most of the stuff in his weird dreams about that guy, Sora was normal, but it was still boggling his mind how he was now seeing things about him and Xion that seemed too real to have been just the imaginings of his subconscious. Plus, there was that last bit at the end that really had him wondering. Not the part about the creepy man in the red robes, but the part regarding that girl in white. Sure, he had not seen her face, or really gotten that good of a look at her, but there was just something about the girl that had him curious. Of course, there was also that other feeling he could not put a word to regarding her, but for the moment, he was just settling with the curiosity about her. And then there was that sense of familiarity he suddenly gained from that last phrase he used when he was cheering up Xion. He somehow knew he had heard it somewhere before, but he could not put his finger on exactly where he had heard it, or who it was that said it.

Xion must have noticed how distracted her brother was and thought that he was really upset about something, most likely regarding how he had lost the munny for yesterday's beach trip if she had to guess, because after a few minutes, she started humming a rather upbeat, catchy tune to herself. Roxas immediately recognized the song, mainly because it was one that had just popped up on the radio one day, and the two had both quickly taken a liking to it. They were not really sure of the singer's name, beyond the fact that she was known as simply the songstress while her band was called the Celsius Wings, but there was no denying that every song they did was really popular, the two most popular ones being songs called "Real Emotion" and "1,000 Words." Normally, whenever one of the two were feeling down, one of them would start humming either one of those two songs or the theme for _DuckTales_ in effort to cheer the other up, and it usually worked because once you got far enough into so much as humming one of those songs, one or both of the twins would start actually singing it. Of course, they usually did so when it was just the two of them, as Roxas insisted that it would be really embarrassing if anyone ever heard him singing one of the Songstress's songs, but thankfully, since there was no one else in the back alley at the moment, Xion knew that it would only be a matter of time before Roxas started singing along to the song out loud.

Just like clockwork, the corners of Roxas's mouth started to curve upwards, even as he tried to insist that his sister was not going to get him to start singing that song, until finally, he caved in, and the two quickly started singing their own little duet version of "Real Emotion." Of course, that did not stop Roxas from looking over his shoulder every few minutes for any sign of Hayner, Pence, Olette, or, heaven forbid, Seifer's gang. He would never live it down if any of them heard him singing that song, or even just singing in general. Xion always insisted that he had a great singing voice, but Roxas just refused to believe her on that, so she did eventually give up on getting him to join her for any Karaoke nights at McDuck's Tasty Treat Parlor.

They finished the song just as they walked into the Usual Spot, only to find that no one was there. "Do you think they got tired of waiting for us and just left," Xion questioned, after failing to find any signs of anyone being there, or even hiding out in waiting.

"No, I don't think so," Roxas dismissed. "They wouldn't just take off with some big plans for the day without at least leaving us a note or something."

Xion had to agree with him on that, before muttering, "We've really gotta exchange phone numbers with each other."

"Do Pence or Hayner even have cell phones," Roxas asked with an amused smirk, knowing that it would be a little silly to think so, given how, as he had stated yesterday, they were all broke. The only reason he and Xion had their own phones was so that they could keep track of the time or call their guardian in an emergency. Before Xion could reply, Roxas spotted a paper on the old couch, and it looked like something was written on it. "Hey, I think I found their note," Roxas informed Xion once he saw that said note was done in Hayner's handwriting.

"Well, what does it say," Xion asked.

"'Meet at the station. Today's the day we hit the beach, and don't sweat about the munny. Hayner,'" Roxas read aloud. "Guess he must've done some extra work before he went home last night or something."

"But even with that, there's no way Hayner could've gotten that much munny all on his own. Do you really think he found enough for all of us to go," Xion asked.

"Only one way to find out. Besides, do you really want to pass up on a trip to the beach," Roxas asked in return.

Xion paused to think for a moment before she finally shrugged and said, "No, good point. Still, maybe we should talk to the others first, just to make sure this is for real."

Roxas had to admit that the girl had a good point, so the two immediately set out to find the rest of the gang. They did not have to look for long, as they quickly spotted Olette and Pence together right when they reached Station Heights. "Morning you two," Olette waved in greeting.

"Hey! Is it true that we're going to be able to go to the beach today," Xion immediately inquired, her excitement at the prospect as palpable as anything could be.

"Yeah! Isn't it great," Pence asked, earning nods from both brother and sister.

"So what are you guys doing here right now," Roxas asked as the two friends started to approach. A minute later though, the two stopped moving, and for a moment, Roxas started to think that he and Xion had caught them on a secret date or something, but after taking a closer look, they saw that the two had not only stopped moving, but they had literally frozen in their tracks. Completely still, like a pair of living statues. "Huh?"

"What just happened to Pence and Olette," Xion worriedly asked. She remembered the last time strange things happened around her and her brother, and she was not too eager for another incident like the one with the photo thief.

"I'm not sure," Roxas replied, and he immediately started racing forward so he could get a closer look at the two. Before he got even three steps though, he had to skid to a halt so that he would avoid hitting the person that had literally just appeared in front of him. Roxas breathed a sigh of relief when he regained his balance without knocking over the person in front of him, but when he looked up again, he found himself stunned silent.

There, standing right in front of him, was the blonde girl from his dream, in all of her glory! Same skin tone, same white dress with an embroidered lace pattern, same light blue sandals, and same everything, right down to the way she had her hair draped over her right shoulder. The only difference between his dream and now was that Roxas could now see her entire face, and along with her rosy cheeks, and pale, pink lips, he saw that she also had bright blue eyes that bordered on being violet, which glimmered with a spark that Roxas had never seen in the eyes of any other girl before. He knew it was rude to stare, but for some reason, Roxas just could not break his gaze off of this girl, and the reason was quite simple: he thought she was absolutely beautiful. Yes, he had thought that a few other girls were pretty or beautiful before, but not like this. There was just something about this girl that had him completely mesmerized to the point of speechlessness. When she finally spoke, her voice was calm, slightly quiet, and had a touch of shyness to it, but all the same, to Roxas, it sounded like the voice of an angel. He probably would have taken a few more moments to enjoy it had her words not eventually managed to register in his mind. "Hello, Roxas," the mystery blonde greeted with a wide smile.

Now Roxas was completely baffled. He was sure he had never seen this girl before, and yet somehow, she actually knew his name. It was not until Xion finally crept up behind him and gave him a gentle nudge in the back that he managed to find his voice again, but just barely. "Uh…H-hi…" Roxas stuttered.

This time it was Xion who was left stunned. Sure, Roxas had his moments of hesitance or nervousness, but she had never seen him act shy in this way before. At least, not as far as she could remember. She then glanced over at the blonde in front of them before turning back to her brother, and repeated this process several times over before she felt a small, mischievous smile creep up onto her face at the realization of just what she believed was going on here. Of course, it disappeared when the blonde girl suddenly turned to her, still smiling, and suddenly hugged Xion out of nowhere. "It's so good to see you, too, Xion," the blonde sighed happily.

"Um…yeah. Nice to see you, too…strange girl," Xion muttered.

Hearing his sister speak made Roxas regain a little more cognitive thought, so when the blonde pulled away from Xion, he managed to start asking the obvious question. "And you are…?"

The blonde merely raised a hand to silence him, before clasping her hands together, and holding his gaze in a perfect lock as she said, "I wanted to meet you again at least once."

"Us," Roxas repeated, as a sign of his quickly growing confusion.

"Yes, you," the blonde happily confirmed, though from what Xion could tell, the feeling was more directed at Roxas than it was her. Unlike her brother though, Xion was still able to retain enough conscious thought to ask the important questions.

"What did you mean by 'again?' Have we met somewhere before," Xion asked, going for the most obvious first.

The blonde nodded in response before she said, "You actually came to me so you could ask for some help. Or rather, you wanted to know if there was any way I could help you, so that you could both help another friend of mine."

"But…why…how…" Roxas stuttered.

The blonde just continued to smile at the two siblings before glancing around once again, almost like she was checking if the coast was clear, and then saying, "If you want to know more, come to the Old Mansion. If you do, I'll tell you both as much as I can."

With that, the girl turned and started to walk towards the Tram Common, leaving the other two unable to do any more than stare after her until she had finally disappeared from view. The only reason that they were able to shake their gaze away from where she had vanished was because the world around them suddenly unfroze again, and their friends came towards them, with Pence giving a delayed answer to Roxas's previous question. "Olette dragged me along to go shopping," the heavy-weight boy said in a way that made it sound like he was enduring a great torture.

"Hey, you guys wanna come with us," Olette asked, apparently not registering the bewildered states of the two siblings.

Roxas was able to come around again first, but it was just barely, as evidenced by how he barely managed to ask, "Um, uhh, wait…Did you just see that…?"

"He's stalling," Pence muttered to Olette, and that was what finally got Xion to come around again, her mind quickly coming up with a cover story while simultaneously latching onto her previous revelation.

"Far from it, actually. We can't come with because we're on a mission of our own," Xion told them.

"A mission? What kind of mission? And why is it a mission to begin with," Olette questioned, taking careful note of the way Xion was smiling at the moment.

Xion's smile slowly turned into a slight grin before she told her friends in a sing-song voice just what it was that had prompted their sudden mission. "Roxas is in love~!"

"NO WAY," Pence and Olette both exclaimed at the same time.

"WHAT," Roxas shouted in disbelief. He was definitely all the way back from wherever his mind had taken him to now.

"Yeah, I'm not kidding," Xion excitedly cheered. "We were just heading towards the Usual Spot earlier, when we saw this blonde girl in a white dress passing by. I didn't really think much of it, beyond the fact that I'd never seen her anywhere in town before, but then I saw how Roxas's eyes were sticking to her like glue, and when I turned to look back at her, I saw that she was looking right back at him with a small smile! You know, the kind that a girl gives to a guy she might be interested in! He then turned into a stuttering mess when she just smiled a little wider and waved at him, and that pretty much confirmed it for me! My big brother's finally found a girl he's in love with, so now, we've got to find out where she is so that they can start going out!"

"W-wait a second! That's not what…" Roxas tried to protest.

"Well then don't let us stop you from carrying out this mission. If Roxas was as stunned by this girl as you say he was, then you've definitely got to find her," Olette cheered.

"Yeah, otherwise, who knows when he'll meet another girl like that," Pence agreed.

"No, guys! I didn't…" Roxas attempted to cut in, only to be ignored once more.

"I know, right?! Besides, from the looks of her, she seemed like she could one day be the best sister-in-law, too," Xion added in, grinning a little more at how Roxas's face was doing such an impressive impression of a tomato.

"Would you guys listen to me for a minute, so I can tell you that it's not like that," Roxas interrupted. "You're taking this way too far!"

"All right, we'll leave you guys to your mission then," Olette appeased in defeat. "We'll see you guys later. Good luck tracking down Roxas's future girlfriend."

Any protests that Roxas said afterwards went ignored by his two departing friends, so he was left to turn a glare to Xion that demanded answers on why she said that. He never got the question out, as Xion's teasing expression faded away into a much more serious one, indicating that she had just switched over to a more serious topic, and was not going to beat around the bush about it. "How'd you know that girl," Xion asked.

Roxas knew that when she gave him that look, there was no way he would be able to give her anything but the truth, so he immediately admitted, "I saw her in a dream. Or, I saw someone that looked just like her, but that's the thing. The likeness is just too exact to be a coincidence, and…I've been having some other weird dreams lately. About people I've never met and a few other things as well."

When she heard all of that, Xion's mind immediately went blank for a moment, and a stunned expression slowly started to cross her features. Did this mean what she thought it meant? It was still too soon for her to really know, and she was going to find out one way or the other right now. "What kind of people and things did you see in these dreams?"

He may not be sure what brought that question on, but Roxas eventually just passed it off as curiosity, so he humored his sister. "Well, in some of the more recent dreams, I've been seeing you and me doing things like magic, going on actual missions, and a lot of other stuff for this group of people that were all wearing black coats. They called us Number XIII and Number XIV for some weird reason, and we were both able to use that Keyblade that appeared in my hand the other day when we cornered that creature that was stealing the photos," Roxas recounted aloud. "But this is only a more recent addition to what I was already seeing. Most of the dreams have always been about someone else who used that same Keyblade, going to other worlds with another person who had his own Keyblade, and two other guys, fighting monsters and looking for his friends. A guy by the name of…"

"Sora," Xion finished in questioning.

"Huh? Yeah," Roxas gasped in amazement. "How'd you know?"

Xion did not answer, but instead asked, "Those friends of his, were their names Donald, Goofy, and Ventus? And was he fighting a boy named Riku while looking for a girl with red hair?"

"Okay, now you're starting to scare me a little, Sis," Roxas cautioned, and judging by the expression on his face, he was certainly a little freaked out.

Xion was just as freaked out as her brother, but more than that, she was also getting a bit excited. "Name a few of the things you saw in your most recent dream about them! And anything about us too," she all but demanded.

"Well…last night, I saw Sora and the others meeting a mermaid, fighting pirates, freeing a genie, talking to a satyr and a living skeleton, meeting someone that Ventus called a summoner, and summoning a dragon, a superhero, and an alien woman with laser swords," Roxas quickly recounted as best as he could. He may not remember all the details of the strange dreams, but he was still able to recall a few, basic things. "Oh! There were also a few moments when Ventus was teaching Sora some important lessons, and he also told him that a princess's heart was inside of him. I think that it was that girl that he's always with."

"And what about us? What did you dream about us," Xion rapidly asked, sounding the answer was a movie that she had been dying to see and could barely wait another minute for.

"That's…a little harder to remember," Roxas admitted. "I know that we were part of that group with black coats and we were both able to use the Keyblade, but there were also moments when we were on the clock tower having ice cream, and the most recent one, I met a guy in a suit of armor, and you had met someone with the same coat, except he had a blindfold and said that he was only dressing like members of that group so that he could keep his best friend safe or something. I think he said his name was…"

"RIKU," Xion shouted, unable to keep it in any longer. "That's the exact same thing I saw in my dream last night!"

"Wait, what," Roxas exclaimed, not believing what he just heard. "Are you saying you had the same dream?"

"Yeah! Roxas, I've been having dreams about Sora, too, and all that other stuff you mentioned, I saw it in the dream I had last night as well," Xion revealed, honestly relieved that she could finally tell her brother about this.

"That does explain your weird question this morning," Roxas muttered to himself, mentally promising that he was going to punch Riku for treating Xion the way he did when they first met if he ever ran across the silver haired boy.

Xion's excitement dwindled a little though when she stated, "But I don't remember seeing that girl from just now before I woke up."

"Maybe…You just woke up before the dream could get to that part," Roxas offered, but from the look on Xion's face, he had a feeling that his sister was going to tell him something that was a little less sensible.

"Or maybe…that was her way of getting into contact with you, because she wanted you to recognize her when we saw her just now," Xion suggested. Roxas had to admit, he was not expecting something that simple, but he should have known better, because Xion was not done yet. "After all, what girl doesn't want her future boyfriend to know what she looks like?"

"I'm not her future boyfriend! I don't even know her name," Roxas insisted.

"But she knew yours," Xion countered.

"And she knew yours, too. That doesn't mean she wants you to be her girlfriend," Roxas retorted, not knowing that his face was turning a little red again.

Xion just rolled her eyes at her brother's insistence at denying his feelings, but right now was not the time to get him past that. There were more important matters to deal with. "That doesn't change the fact that she apparently knew us, or the fact that she was looking at you more than me the whole time we were talking to her," Xion pointed out. "Besides, she also said that she wanted to meet us again. That means we did meet at her some point."

"I think I would remember meeting her before," Roxas argued.

"Why? Because you remember every girl that you think is pretty, cute, nice…" Xion started to list.

"And every other positive thing you could say about a girl," Roxas finished, not knowing that he had said it out loud until it was too late.

"What was that," Xion asked, though from the teasing sound of her voice, she did not need Roxas to repeat himself.

"N-Nothing," Roxas still denied. "Look, it doesn't matter right now! She said that she could give us answers at the Old Mansion, so the real question is whether or not we should go."

Xion immediately turned serious at this question, and looked to where the blonde girl had disappeared too, thinking over that very matter that her brother brought up. He had a point in saying that they did not know her, but from the way she spoke and acted, that girl definitely seemed to know them. More importantly, she had just appeared out of nowhere, right when the world around them had suddenly frozen up, and she did not seem the least bit concerned about that. Could that mean she knew something about the other strange things that the two siblings had been going through lately? And just what answers could she give them? Did she actually know something about their dreams? There were just too many questions and not enough answers, and it was giving Xion a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. One that she knew would not go away if they just stood around here contemplating all day.

With all of that in mind, Xion turned to her brother and asked, "What do you think we should do?"

Roxas knew that was a loaded question. Xion clearly wanted to go after that girl in white, and he could tell it was not just so she could try and play matchmaker between him and the mystery girl. She wanted answers about all of this just as badly as he did, and from what that girl had implied, she knew at least a few things. Besides, aside from missing the beach trip, it was not like they really had anything to lose, right? Sure, they were essentially trusting a stranger, but was she really a stranger if she did know them from somewhere? In the end, the choice seemed pretty easy to make. "Let's go after her," Roxas decided. "I don't know about you, but I definitely want to know just what is going on with us, especially lately."

Xion nodded in agreement, and like that, the two were heading down the remainder of Station Heights so that they could follow the girl to the mansion out in the woods, eager for any answers that they may or may not receive. Although, there was still a small part of them that made them wonder what would happen after they got those answers. Then again, there was also a part of Xion that was silently promising Roxas that she was not going to let up on teasing him over his obvious new crush on the blonde girl in white for good, so that probably did not say too much.

* * *

Catching up with the blonde girl was not too hard for the siblings, but that was mainly because she did not seem to really go that far without stopping for a few moments so that they could catch up. Sure, she was always a great distance away from them when she did stop, and then started going again by the time they were halfway to her, but at least she was stopping a little. That did not keep Roxas from wishing that she would let them get all the way over to wherever she was before she kept going again, but he was not going to admit that out loud, especially with Xion constantly teasing him about having a crush on this mystery girl. Of course, the other thing that was bugging him was why she was not going to tell them anything until after they had gotten to the mansion. There did not seem to be anything wrong with telling them while they were back at Station Heights, and yet she seemed pretty insistent on only saying something at a specific location. Maybe she knew that time was going to resume in a few moments and did not want to be around when it did for some reason, but that just raised the questions of what that reason was and how could she have known that. Either way, any answer that came to Roxas was instantly followed with at least half a dozen new questions, and the only way he and Xion were going to get any answers on anything, be it their weird dreams that they were both apparently having or the blonde that had just appeared out of nowhere, was by humoring this girl in her strange request to meet at the old mansion.

Eventually, they made it all the way to the edge of the woods, but when they did, the siblings also lost sight of the blonde. When Roxas asked if Xion was sure that the girl had gone in through the hole in the wall, his sister immediately replied with an insistent yes, but all the same, she was seeing just as few signs of the girl as her brother was. She doubted that the blonde could have gone too far though, as she did not really strike Xion as the athletic type, or even as much of an outdoorsy person, so this sudden disappearance was really confusing to Xion. After a minute or so, she finally had to ask why they were even trying to spot her when they already knew she was going to be waiting for them at the mansion, and Roxas had the decency to look sheepish upon realizing how silly he was being in asking if she saw any sign of them. A minute later, he grimaced a little bit, knowing that it was probably something of another reason for Xion to say that he was in love with this mystery blonde, but that teasing never came, because they were soon met with yet another surprise, and this one was far less pleasant.

When they were barely more than a few feet into the woods, the siblings suddenly had to come to a stop when a strange, dark mist suddenly began surrounding their feet before rising up in front of them and forming into an equally strange vortex that almost looked like a hole in the air. Neither of them wanted to get closer to the thing, and the desire to do so decreased even more when several, silver creatures like the photo thief from the other day came jumping out. The creatures quickly surrounded the two, and Roxas and Xion were both slowly backing away in preparation to run until one of them got close enough to grab hold of Roxas. "Hey, lemme go," Roxas cried out as he attempted to pry himself loose, but the monster's grip was just too strong to pry off.

"He said let go, freak," Xion shouted, and the next thing anyone knew, the raven haired girl was delivering a surprising spin kick right into the creature's head. Xion's attack immediately got the creature to let go of Roxas, but whether the blow actually did something or if it was out of surprise that Xion had taken said action was hard to say. Frankly, neither sibling really cared too much, as they were much more interested in making a run for it to escape. At least until they were about halfway to the Sandlot.

"Did you actually just kick that thing in the head," Roxas asked, incredulously.

"Yeah, I didn't think it would work either, to be honest," Xion shrugged as they continued running.

Roxas chanced a glance back, only to see that the creatures were still coming after them, and they were quickly catching up, and that prompted him to shout, "Well if your intention was to make them mad, then I think it definitely worked a lot better than you thought!"

Any reply Xion could have given was cut off before she could even form a single word when another, far more arrogant voice suddenly called out, "Hey, chicken wuss and pipsqueak!"

The two immediately turned to see that not only had they now entered the Sandlot in their attempts to get away from the silver creatures, but that Seifer and his gang were also there, too. Xion probably would have gone over and socked the taller boy in the jaw for calling her pipsqueak, since she really did not like people making fun of because of her height, but right now, she could not really care less about the bully of Twilight Town. At least not enough to do anything other than tell him off. "Not now, Seifer! We've got more important problems to worry about than you."

"Hey! Who're you callin' a problem, ya know," Rai demanded, looking just as angry as Seifer did right then, and no doubt beating his boss to the punch in asking that very question.

"You mean aside from you guys," Roxas sarcastically asked. He then pointed towards the alley he and Xion had just come from and said, "Them, for starters!"

The "disciplinary committee" immediately turned to where Roxas was pointing, just in time to see the silver creatures that had been chasing Roxas and Xion flying into the Sandlot, and they were all immediately jumping on guard. "Who's that," Fuu questioned.

"I dunno, but they've already crossed the line," Seifer stated as he grabbed his Struggle bat, while Rai assumed his own battle stance, and Vivi took cover in some unseen spot. Seifer then spared Roxas and Xion a small glance before grabbing a couple of spare bats that were nearby, and then tossed them over to the siblings as he shouted, "I think you two might need these!"

Roxas and Xion immediately caught the bats that they had been loaned, and then nodded in thanks to Seifer, more out of instinct than anything else, as they assumed their own battle stances. "Just be careful, you three," Xion cautioned. "These guys aren't exactly normal, and they don't go down easily."

"Good to know," Seifer replied in thanks, and like that, they were all trying to fight off the bizarre beings that had dared to invade their town.

Their attempts to fight off these creatures were about as successful as Roxas and Xion's were the last time they encountered one of these things, at least before Roxas suddenly found the Keyblade in his hand, because no matter how they swung at them, how hard they punched, or even how quickly they struck them, the creatures did not seem to be the least bit phased, assuming that they were at all. It was pretty clear that Seifer and Rai were getting the most annoyed by this, and despite how she seemed to maintain her calm exterior, one could tell that Fuu was getting pretty irritated by the creatures too. Not that the two siblings could blame the three, considering that fighting an enemy that they did not seem to be able to hurt was really nerve racking, but they were more worried about how to get rid of these things than they were about how upset their unexpected battle allies were getting.

Their concerns for Seifer and his pals did go up a little bit though when Xion noticed that the gang of four was starting to get surrounded shortly after Vivi seemed to find enough courage to join in on the fighting. Whether or not Roxas noticed this, she was not sure, as she could tell that he was pretty caught up in his struggle against the creature that had made him its primary focus. "If only I could use that ice blast or the Keyblade like I could in my dreams," Xion muttered to herself, and while the latter did seem like the better option, it was the first thing that made Xion stop and think for a minute. "Wait a minute…What was it that Ventus said in that dream from the other night?"

 _"The simplest way to put it is to say that when we use magic, it usually requires us to want something,"_ Ventus's words from her dream echoed in her head, as Xion recalled that specific part of the dream. _"When you cast Blizzard, you must want to cause your opponent to freeze."_

 _"Want my opponent to freeze…"_ Xion repeated in her head, like a small mantra as she slowly raised her hand up towards the creatures. Eventually, the mantra stopped being something she was just thinking, and she started saying it aloud, albeit softly at first, but she steadily started raising her voice little by little as she went. "Want my opponent to freeze. Want my opponent to freeze. I want my opponent to…FREEZE!"

Just like that, the very moment when she shouted that last word, a blast of ice shards rocketed out from the palm of her hand, and collided right into the silver creature that was directly in front of her, sending it flying into one of its allies that were surrounding Seifer's gang. Seeing that her attempt at doing magic again was successful, Xion could not help but beam widely, and probably would have started to literally jump with joy had Roxas not suddenly shoved her down in an attempt to keep her from getting hit by another one of the silver creatures. Once he was sure that his sister was okay, Roxas immediately jumped back to his feet, helped Xion up as well, and then turned to face their opponents once again, only to find that the creatures were quickly surrounding Seifer and his pals once again.

"Not good," Roxas muttered. He then looked to Xion and asked, "I don't suppose you've got anymore of those ice blasts in you, do you, Sis?"

"I know that you know it was magic, and I guess I could give it a try," Xion replied, raising her hand up so that she was both ready to aim another spell and able to better focus said power in case she could summon up another blast as she did. Just when she was about to start her attempt though, she noticed something that was rather peculiar. "Uh Roxas? Is it my imagination, or are Seifer and the others not moving?"

Roxas raised an eyebrow at his sister, ready to pass it off as just her being silly, until he turned to see that she was right. "The hell," Roxas muttered. "They're completely frozen…just like Olette and Pence were earlier."

Saying that last part out loud reminded the two of what had happened after said event, and they slowly started scanning the area for any signs of the blonde girl from before. Their search was not very successful at first, as they only saw the silver creatures circling both them and the frozen bullies, until eventually, they seemed to get tired of immobile targets and turned their attention to the siblings once again. The twins were ready to try and make another run for it, when they heard the blonde girl's voice calling out, "Roxas! Xion! Use the Keyblades!"

Their attempts to spot the blonde were immediately redoubled while their situation was quickly forgotten, and if you were to ask her, it came as no surprise to Xion that Roxas ended up spotting their quandary first. The minute he did, he gave Xion a light pat on the arm and pointed upwards, and when Xion turned her gaze in said direction, she too, quickly spotted the blonde girl in the white dress looking down at them from the roof of one of the buildings that surrounded the Sandlot with a smile on her face. She would have pointed out that the girl's smile seemed to be mostly directed at Roxas, but at the moment, Xion felt that it was a bit more necessary for her to point out a small flaw in the blonde's request.

"I can't use the Keyblade! I can only shoot out blasts of magic," Xion told the girl. "Roxas was the one who somehow summoned it the other day. I've only been able to use it…"

"In your dreams," the blonde finished for Xion, and while it may have sounded like a question, it seemed pretty clear to Xion that it was not. "Those were much more than dreams, Xion, and you both know it. You _can_ use the Keyblade, just like Roxas, and just like Sora and Ven too. The power is there inside of you. You just need to remember."

"Remember what," Roxas asked in Xion's place, thinking that this applied to him just as much as it did his sister. The blonde did not get the chance to answer, as one of the silver creatures finally moved in to attack, and the siblings immediately raised their arms to shield themselves out of reflex. Whether or not they were actually hit, they could not tell you, because at that very same moment, everything suddenly went dark for them.

* * *

When Xion opened her eyes, she saw no signs of the strange creatures that were attacking her and Roxas, but that was little relief considering that it looked like the Sandlot and all the rest of Twilight Town had disappeared as well. Now, she was standing in a place that was surrounded by dark clouds, and she could hear faint music that sounded like a soothing choir piece emanating from all around her. When she finally looked down at the floor, Xion gasped at the large image she saw depicted beneath her feet. The floor was a massive, stained-glass image that gave it a very beautiful quality on its own, but what really shocked Xion were the people being depicted in the image. On one side, she could see what looked to be a sleeping Sora on the right, while on the other side, she could see the redheaded girl that Sora was always with. Both of them were holding Keyblades as they appeared to sleep, but while Sora's was like the one she always saw in her dreams, the redhead's was very different. It seemed rather harmless and kind of girly in its appearance, but at the same time, it was also quite beautiful. With a breaking wave and beige vine of sand making up the hilt, while said vine wrapped around the sunset colored shaft, and the colorful flowers that were entwined to form the shape of a heart to make up the teeth of the key, Xion was easily reminded of a calm day at a beach the more she looked at it, and could only think that it suited the redhead girl perfectly. Still, she was a bit confused on why the stained-glass floor depicted both the girl and Sora like this.

When she took a couple steps forward to better analyze the picture, Xion jumped a little as the floor gave off a small flash of light, nothing too bright or noticeable unless you were looking right at it, but it was still there all the same. When the light faded away seconds later, the image of the two people from her strange dreams was replaced with a very different one that shocked Xion quite a bit. There, where the image of Sora had once been, was now a picture of her, also sleeping with a Keyblade in hand, and decked out in a black coat like the one she wore in the dreams. Next to her image were several small circles, and in one of them she could see a picture of Roxas. Another of the circles was filled in with an image of a man with long hair that she recognized from her dreams as Riku, while a third one held an image of the man in odd armor, but the rest of the circles were either blank or had images that looked to be either faded or rubbed out. Xion was not sure what to think now, having not expected the image to change like that, and she was even more surprised to see the picture change back into its original one when she took a few more steps forward. This little back-and-forth between the two images continued for every step that Xion took in a certain direction, like how the image on a holographic card would change when the card was moved a little, and while it did start to get a little entertaining to watch, Xion found her attention redirected when she heard something materialize somewhere close to her.

Turning around, Xion gasped at seeing the redhead's Keyblade had appeared before her, along with two other Keyblades that she did not recognize. One of the two was entirely silver, and displayed two hearts on the shaft. The handle had two angel wings on either side, while a strange symbol that was colored either blue or gold made up the teeth. The token on the end of the Keychain resembled a star-shaped charm that looked to be made up of seashells that were sewn together, with a little smiley face on the top point of the charm. In short, it was a very beautiful blade, and Xion could just feel that it was special in a great many different ways beyond just appearances. Meanwhile, the third Keyblade made Xion pause a little, as she could feel a great deal of magic coming from within it, while at the same time, there was something even more special about it as well. It had thin blade that was predominantly dull, metallic blue with a teardrop shaped gap in the base and near the tip of the blade's shaft. The head of the blade was a rough diamond shape, despite the fact that one corner of the diamond was missing, with a small, white diamond on the inner edge of the right corner, while the teeth were formed by four blue spikes lining the outer edge of the blade's head, and the handle was smooth and black with an angular guard that did not fully connect to the blade.

She was not entirely sure what she should do now, but somehow, Xion knew that she would probably have to choose one of these three Keyblades for some reason. At first she figured it was as some kind of bizarre test, but then she noticed something moving within the clouds, just outside the boundaries of the circular floor, and she figured that it was more likely she would need to choose one of the blades so that she could fight off whatever sort of monsters were lurking just out of sight. Slowly but surely, Xion approached the blades, and then raised her hand towards the one that she saw the redhead girl holding. When she did, a strange voice seemed to call out to her, telling her of the some characteristics that came with the blade.

 _"The Destiny's Embrace. A weapon of choice for those who prioritize magic over everything else, but are not the type who would engage an enemy in close combat,"_ the voice recited, keeping it short and sweet. _"Is great inner strength important to you?"_

While Xion was intrigued by what she could do with magic, she did not want to give up her ability to go head-to-head with an opponent if she had to, so she immediately shook her head in negative reply. She then raised her hand to the thin, metallic blue Keyblade, and once again, heard a strange voice whisper something in her head. _"The Rainfell. Powerful for those who are born a warrior, and seek to follow the grander plan. Battle and unflinching courage are the promise of this blade."_

While it did seem a little more appealing to Xion, the fact that the voice talked like this blade was for someone who was constantly pulled into or preparing for a possible fight left her feeling a little less sure. She was not opposed to fighting if she had to, but she did not want to be constantly fighting some unknown enemy, or be preparing to take such actions. Still, this one was more appealing than the first Keyblade so she put it down as a maybe for now, and moved on to the final Keyblade. Part of her wondered why she did not inquire about the silver blade first, as she did regard it with a great deal more curiosity than the other two, but that did not really matter now, since she had already heard about the other two, so she simply moved along reached out to the silver blade so that she could hear about it. Just like the last two times, the strange voice whispered something to her, and this time, Xion did not find anything wrong with what she heard. _"The Oathkeeper. A symbol of a great promise between those who hold each other close in their hearts. Whoever wields this blade would possess great magical skill while being equally gifted in battle, all in the effort to fulfill their greatest wish. Is balance of ability and promises in a strong bond important to you?"_

That settled it for Xion, and she immediately grasped the Oathkeeper's handle so that she could heft it up over her head. She watched closely as the magnificent Keyblade glittered in the light of this strange place, until she heard the voice repeat its last question, and she did not hesitate to nod in reply. A moment later, the other two Keyblades vanished, and Oathkeeper seemed to shine a little brighter before it disappeared in a flash of light, and was then replaced by the Keyblade that Xion had seen Sora, Roxas, and herself wielding in the dreams. Xion could hardly believe her eyes at seeing that the Keyblade was actually in her hands, but she had to be sure that her eyes were not playing tricks on her. So, to test if this was actually happening, Xion quickly dismissed the Keyblade, waited a few moments, and then held her hand out with her eyes closed as she focused on the mighty weapon. When she heard something suddenly flash into existence at the same time that a new weight came into her hand, Xion turned to see that the Keyblade really was there, and she could only grin at the sight in excitement.

"I don't believe it! I _can_ do it," Xion whispered in awe. Her voice then grew a little louder as she shouted out her revelation for all to hear. "I can wield the Keyblade!" Her eyes picked up on a trace of movement from the side, and when she turned to see the same silver creatures from before slowly approaching her, Xion did not step back or freeze up in worry. Instead, she just grinned a little, dropped into a battle stance, and playfully cautioned, "You guys are in so much trouble now."

* * *

Like Xion, Roxas also found himself atop a large pillar with a stained-glass floor, surrounded by dark clouds that some strange creatures could be seen lurking inside of, and even though he was curious about the place, he was a little more worried about what had happened to his sister than anything else. At least until he caught sight of the floor from the corner of his eyes. Down on the floor, he could see an image of Sora, sleeping with the Keyblade in his hand, and next to him, Roxas could see several small circles that displayed images of Riku, Donald, Goofy, Ventus, and the redhead girl that Sora was always with. When he took a step forward to look closer, he saw the image flash a little before it changed, and in Sora's place, Roxas could now see an image of himself, dressed in the very same outfit that he was currently wearing with the Keyblade in his hand. The images in the smaller circles had been changed as well, with the ones closest to his image clearly depicting Xion, and an image of the blonde girl that he and his sister had been chasing after when all this craziness started. He also spotted an image of the man in armor, who he was sure was Ventus, but as for the last two, he could not entirely say for certain as they seemed to have been faded out somehow. All he could tell about either of the other two was that they both seemed to have spiky hair, and one of them seemed like he had a playfully smug smile on his face.

Roxas's attention was soon drawn from the images on the floor when he heard something materialize close to him, and he looked up to see three different Keyblades had appeared. He only recognized one of the Keyblades, and that was only because it was identical to the one that he had seen Ventus using in the dreams. The other two were a mystery to him. The blade to the left of Ventus's was almost entirely black, save for a dark blue gem resting in the hilt, and possessed a chain-like design running up the length of the blade. The token at the end of its Keychain was comprised of black, chain links, which ended in a three-point crown token that looked identical to the pendant that Roxas always saw Sora wearing around his neck. Meanwhile, the other blade was mostly silver with some black along the blade and on the handle, and red lining both the guard and the circular tip of the blade. From where Roxas was standing, it looked like someone had taken two, circular weapons, like a chakram, and joined them together with a metal numeral eight. There were also a total of eight spikes on the blade, as far as Roxas could see, and for some reason, he could feel a great deal of warmth coming off of the blade, almost comparable to that of a campfire or something similar to that.

Seeing the creatures that were still lurking in the shadows made Roxas feel like he had to pick between one of the three Keyblades, so he quickly approached them and raised his hand to grab the closest one as soon as he had reached the blades, only to pause when he heard a voice calling out in his head, saying something strange about the Keyblade he was reaching for. _"The Guardian Wind. Powerful for those who wish for a quick decisive end, but also ideal for those fight in the most unique ways."_

Roxas was now hesitant to use this blade, as he was not really one to fight in a way that was too far outside the norm. Sure, there were times when he had practiced fighting with two Struggle bats instead of one, but that was about as far as he ever went. He was not too fond of trying to learn something how to fight with a backhand grip like he had seen Ventus use in the dreams, because as simple as it seemed, he was sure that it was much more complicated than it looked. He then moved to grab the red and silver blade, and heard the voice say, _"The Bond of Flame. A strong representation of the ties between friends, and an ideal choice of those who fight with powerful magic."_

As much as he liked the sound of the first thing that the blade represented, Roxas was not too fond of magic. He may not have used any yet like Xion had, but he much preferred to get in close and fight something head-on, not just attack from a distance like how he had seen Donald, Ven, or Sora normally do in his dreams whenever they cast spells. With that said, he knew that there was only one blade left, so he immediately turned to it, listening once again before making any attempts to actually grab the blade. _"The Oblivion. Though its power may contain traces of the place in shadows, the bond it represents shows great strength, power, and courage."_

Roxas did not wait to hear anything else after that, because what he had just heard was certainly good enough for him, so he grabbed hold of Oblivion's handle, and watched the other Keyblades disappear, while Oblivion itself glowed a little before it was replaced with the Keyblade he had wielded the other day. A few practice swings allowed Roxas to get a better feel for the rather basic looking Keyblade, and he managed to get a good handle on it when he saw the silver creatures that had attacked him and Xion earlier finally slink out of the clouds towards him. He barely spared them more than a glance before he turned and began to fight them off, making quick work of the strange enemies with just a few simple moves. When the last creature was vanquished, Roxas was about to return to his search for Xion when a large, ornate door appeared before him.

 _"Be careful,"_ the voice from before cautioned him. _"Beyond that door lies a completely different world. But don't be afraid. Don't stop walking…"_

Roxas was unsure of what to do. He did not want to go forward without his sister, but considering that there did not seem to be too many other places here that Xion could be, he had to acknowledge that he had no other choice but to go on. Besides, for all he knew, she could be on the other side of this door, so he immediately stepped through to whatever was waiting for him on the other side, hoping that he would find both Xion and a few answers wherever he ended up afterwards.

* * *

The twins had no idea that they were both going through the exact same situations, aside from one or two small details like the three Keyblades that they had to choose from, and it remained that way as they continued through the strange stations, right until they finally reunited once again after crossing through a second ornate door and into one station, where they found themselves standing across said tower from the other when they emerged from their respective doors. When they realized that their other sibling was finally within sight again, they immediately closed the distance and wrapped each other in a tight hug, just to confirm that they were both real. Once they were satisfied, they released each other from the hug, and immediately started talking at the same time.

"You won't believe what I just went through! There were these three Keyblades that I had to choose from, and after I did, the Keyblade appeared in my hand and I ended up fighting off more of those weird silver things all the way over to here," Roxas and Xion both exclaimed at once. When they realized that they had both said the exact same thing, they froze a little in surprise before they both said, "Wait, what?"

"Okay, maybe Pence was right the other day when he said that this whole thing is creepy," Roxas confessed, referring to how he and Xion had both said the exact same thing at the same time just now.

"I'm pretty sure that only applies in cases like this," Xion shrugged, even if she was a little creeped out as well by the whole thing. She then became a little more excited as she said, "Either way, it was just so cool, being able to use the Keyblade like that! Did it feel that awesome for you when you got it a couple days ago? What am I saying? Of course it did, because I still feel really awesome whenever I summon it! Just watch!"

Despite all the weirdness that was taking place, Roxas was glad to see that Xion was still her usual self, but he was quickly surprised when Xion summoned forth the Keyblade to her hand, still grinning like an overly excited child in a candy store. Her excitement would have been contagious and gotten Roxas to grin and cheer as much as she was, had they not suddenly sensed a presence from somewhere behind them. They quickly turned around to see if there were more silver creatures coming out, determined to remind them why they were not to be messed with, but their confidence slowly started to slip when they saw a much different, and much, _much_ bigger monster had arisen before them instead.

The monster before them was gargantuan, to say the least, and appeared to be completely clad in a white body suit, if one were to judge by the silver zipper running up its front. Its head was completely blank, save for the odd symbol that was on all of the silver creatures from before where a face would have been, while four long, blue tentacles wrapped around its neck like a scarf, the tips of which were pointed in the same way as the spikes on the symbol adorning its face. Its waist was rather thin, had dark grey sides, and led into thick, short legs with spikes on its hips and long pointed feet, which appeared to have high-heels on the ankles. It shoulders each sported a giant, diamond-shaped spike, and its arms were so long that they appeared to reach all the way to the floor. From what Roxas and Xion could see, it looked like there was only one distinct digit on both of its hands, that being the thumb, but somehow, they doubted that this thing was going to need a full set of fingers to crush them if it wanted to, and it definitely seemed like it wanted to. Regardless of how intimidating this thing was, Roxas and Xion were not afraid of it, at least not to the point where they were frozen in fear or trying to find a way to get some distance from it out of a desperate panic. Instead, they readied their Keyblades, exchanged a quick nod, and prepared to face this beast with everything that they could.

After studying their opponent for a few minutes in silence, Xion had to spare her brother a quick glance and ask, "So how do we do this? It's not like this is another street fight or Struggle match with Seifer and his cronies."

"Doesn't mean we can't use some of those same skills against this guy," Roxas pointed out, apparently not noticing how some strange thorns were steadily surrounding them. "We can just hit it in a two-pronged attack. You go left, I'll go right, and we basically try to keep him off balance while watching for…" Roxas never got to finish his sentence, as he and Xion were both suddenly lifted up into the air and found themselves restrained by several of the energy thorns. He struggled a little for a minute, trying to see if he could get any kind of movement, only to find little success. "Can't move. Can you?"

"Nope, not really," Xion confessed, even as she struggled to move one of her arms down. The creature then suddenly slinked right in front of them, making them jump a little, and then drew its fist back like it was getting ready to slug them. Xion then noticed that she whatever was immobilizing her had loosened on all but one of her wrists, and quickly shouted, "Roxas, get ready to jump when I tell you!"

"What?! Xion," Roxas started to protest, but his sister was not going to hear it.

"Just do it," the raven haired girl shouted. She then watched the creature as closely as she could, waiting for when it finally took a swing at them, and just when it's massive fist was about to collide with them, she shouted, "NOW!"

At Xion's signal, the two siblings jumped as best as they could, and spun over the large fist, using the thorns that were still tightly restraining one of their arms as a way to swing back down while they swung the Keyblades at the creature. Both blades struck true, knocking the monster well away from them, but it did nothing to break them free of their bonds, and the monster did not stay far away from them for too long. When it finally stopped flying back, it hovered a few feet outside the boundaries of the tower and then lifted its arms up so that they could snake all the way back towards the siblings, capturing them in both hands. The creature then pulled itself forward so that it could glare down at them, or at least what they assumed was its way of glaring at them, before tossing them both up into the air and drawing back so that it could slap them both down.

This time it was Roxas who gave the signal, as he saw a chance to knock this thing down again when he finally righted himself and realized that he was no longer restrained. The minute he shouted for Xion to move, both siblings spun over the massive fists and landed a powerful hit to the beast's head. When the two landed, they watched as the creature fell to the ground and then slid off the tower completely, making them think that they had won for a minute. Sadly, they were soon reminded that nothing was ever that easy, as they felt the tower shake beneath their feet and then start to tip over a little. Thinking quickly, Roxas immediately stabbed the Keyblade into the ground and then grabbed Xion with his free hand before she fell past him and into the void below. If she were being honest though, Xion probably would have preferred that over the sight of the massive energy sphere that this massive monster was powering up over its head as it hung from the other end of the tower.

When the creature finally dropped from the tower, Roxas's Keyblade came loose from where it had been stabbed, and both siblings were quickly falling, straight towards the energy sphere that would surely be their end. Neither one was planning to go down easily, and after they had righted themselves, Roxas and Xion made that very clear with a quick toss of their Keyblades. The mystical weapons went right through the sphere, making it literally explode right in the monster's face, while the shockwave knocked the siblings a little ways back from where they had previously been hanging in the air. When they finally fell to the ground again, it was only seconds before the Keyblades stabbed into the ground a few feet away from them, and the monster soon after with a crash. Xion shook in fear a little from how close they had been from being stabbed by their own weapons or crushed by the massive monstrosity, but seeing Roxas stand up and pull his own Keyblade from the ground helped her to shake it off and retrieve her own blade. With that done, the two immediately set to work making sure that this thing attacking them would stay down for the count by hitting it in the head as much as they could.

They were not quite fast enough, as the creature soon spun itself into an upright position again, and at a speed that did not seem normal for something of that size, and then back flipped while swinging one, extended arm across the entirety of the tower. Xion barely managed to jump over the arm, but Roxas was not so lucky, and had to pull a quick, mid-air recovery so that he would not land flat on his face, but they were not done dodging this thing just yet. As the monster slowed down in its spin, it seemed to release a series of thorns that spun out towards the two, but Xion and Roxas were able to dodge them quickly enough and then used the thorns so that they could propel themselves towards the beast. They did not do so by swinging from them with their bare hands, since they were sure that touching these things was not very safe, but thankfully, the Keyblades were able to help them spin around these things like a smooth, metal pole. Once they were close enough, the two unleashed every single form of slash and stab that they could on the monster's head, with Xion pausing every so often to unleash a blast of ice magic whenever she saw a chance to do so. She was honestly surprised that she could throw out a spell so easily now, but given the circumstances, she was not going to question it.

Despite having to endure a few more strange tactics and maneuvers from this beast, the twins were able to keep up their pace with this pattern until finally, the creature began to wobbled and shake dangerously while it let out a strange sound that made them think that it was not going to be standing for much longer. Apparently, the Keyblades thought so too, because the minute that they had touched down on the ground again at a rather safe distance from the monster, both blades vanished from their hands just as they had come. Xion and Roxas both would have preferred to have kept the blades a little longer, but considering what was about to happen, they were not sure it would have made a difference. When the monster finally tipped over, they knew it was likely going to crash down on them, so they did the only sensible thing that they could: they ran for it!

Thankfully, they avoided getting crushed, but they were not so lucky to avoid the storm of dark energy that erupted from the beast when it collapsed, and soon after, all they saw was blackness, while they also felt as though something was pulling them down. Roxas and Xion both tried their best to break free of whatever it was that was trying to drown them in these strange shadows, but no matter how they thrashed, kicked, or waved, they could not break free of whatever it was that had a hold of them. Eventually, they could feel themselves losing consciousness, and while Xion eventually passed out, Roxas managed to keep enough of wits about him to register a soft, dainty hand grabbing hold of his own just before a strange light seemed to finally drive away whatever it was that was pulling them down.

* * *

Xion was not sure how long she had been out, but when she finally came around, she noticed that she was being gently held up in someone's arms, and while they were the arms of a boy, she could tell quickly enough that they were not her brother's. Upon opening her eyes, Xion was greeted by a black hood that hid her rescuer's face, or at least she assumed this person was a rescuer. After another moment or two, she was soon gaining a feeling of déjà vu as well, because this seemed very similar to something that she had seen in her dreams last night. So much so in fact, that she did not even realize she was just silently staring up at the stranger until he spoke to her in a deep, baritone voice.

"Are you okay," the man in black asked.

"Um…Y-yeah," Xion nodded, not sure why she was suddenly feeling so warm. After another moment or so, she finally asked, "Are you…?"

"I'm Sora's friend," the stranger replied as simply as he could, and in the same manner as the last person who had said that to her.

"Sora's…You're Riku," Xion exclaimed as she quickly sat up. When the stranger gave no indication of whether or not she was right, she became a little less sure and asked, "You are Riku, aren't you?"

The stranger still kept silent, even as he offered her a hand up, which she graciously accepted, until he finally said, "Sorry about swiping your munny yesterday, but I was told it was for your own safety. Yours and your brother's."

"Our safety? From what," Xion asked, now even more confused than before.

The stranger did not answer her, but instead, opened a black portal and instructed, "Go on through here. Your brother is waiting on the other side."

Xion studied him for a minute, trying to find any kind of deceit, until she finally just accepted that she had no other choice one way or the other. After all, wherever she was, all she knew was that the place was really dark, and there was no other sign of an exit. So, with a rather heavy sigh, she stepped forward and into the portal without another word. Though she did gasp a little when she heard one final comment from the stranger in black. "It was good to see you again, Xion. I'm glad you've become your own person now."

* * *

Roxas could barely see anything at first, his eyes having been nearly blinded by the sudden explosion of light, but when he managed to rub the spots from his eyes, he realized that he was in a room that was entirely white, right to the point that you could just barely make out that there was anything else there to lean against or sit on without there already being something or someone in such a position. Proof of this came from the fact that the mystery blonde girl from before was sitting on something just a few feet off the floor, but he was more blown away by her beautiful smile than anything else. After staring at her for a few moments, Roxas opened his mouth to say something, but he was not entirely sure what he would say. Maybe it was one of the questions his large plethora of them, or even a word of thanks for her saving him, because he was sure that was her, but either way, it did not matter.

Just before Roxas could utter a single sound, the blonde girl raised a single finger to her lips and quietly shushed him, indicating that he should keep quiet for a moment. When she saw that Roxas was not going to say anything, she smiled a little more as she indicated herself and said, "My name is Naminé."

 _"Naminé,"_ Roxas repeated in his head. He would have done so out loud, but the blonde had indicated that he should be quiet for a moment, and he was not sure if that was still the case or not. That did not stop him from thinking anything though. _"Such a beautiful name."_

Either Roxas's thoughts were very apparent in his face or the blonde was able to read minds, because Naminé seemed to blush a little after that last thought had gone through his head. Seeing that just made him think she looked even cuter, but her next question for him left him more than a little confused. "Roxas, do you remember your original name?"

"My…original name," Roxas repeated, this time out loud.

The sound of a portal opening finally made the two blondes pull their eyes away from one another, and they turned to said portal just in time to see Xion rush through. When she saw Roxas, the raven haired girl immediately quickened her pace until she was close enough to tackle him with a quick hug. "I'm so glad you're okay," Xion sighed in relief. She then noticed the other blonde in the room and let go of her brother before launching into a bit of a rant. "Hey, what's the big idea, leading us into that ambush like that?! Are you trying to get us killed or something? And how did you even know that we could use the Keyblade?"

"Hey, calm down, Xion! It's not like its Naminé's fault that those things showed up," Roxas immediately scolded in the blonde girl's defense.

At another time, Xion would have teased Roxas for how fiercely he was protecting a girl that he claimed to not have feelings for, but Naminé had another strange comment to make, this time to Xion. "Speaking of original things, Xion, do you remember your original purpose? The one you rebelled against so that you could come and ask me for help?"

"My what," Xion asked. "Look whatever it is you're talking about, we don't know or remember anything about it. Can't you just tell us?"

"I have to agree with my sister on this, Naminé," Roxas admitted, his eyes softening in silent apology for fear of sounding like he was interrogating her. "You said you could give us some answers, so please, at least tell us something?"

Naminé just smiled at the two and said, "Of course, but I'm afraid I might only have time to answer one question, so think carefully about what you want to ask."

The two only needed to exchange one quick look between each other to know what question they both wanted answered more than anything right now. "Why have we been having those dreams of Sora, or the ones about us being part of some group of guys in black coats," Roxas asked on both of their behalves. "Can you tell us anything about that?"

Naminé nodded in reply and said, "They're not just dreams. They're much more powerful than that. The ones about yourselves are old memories slowly resurfacing past the ones that were created to help protect you from that very group. Same with the ones about Sora."

"But why are we seeing those memories about Sora when we're clearly not in them, and how come we don't remember anything about being part of that group," Xion prodded.

This time, Naminé hesitated for a moment, glancing around as if to make sure that no one else was watching or listening in, before she finally said, "I can't tell you the answer to the second question just yet, but as for the first question, because you two hold a very special connection to Sora."

"Huh," was all that either sibling could say in reply. They were about to further question Naminé on this, when the stranger in black suddenly appeared and hoisted Naminé to her feet.

"Your time's up, Naminé," the stranger cautioned.

"But if we don't tell them more than this, Roxas and Xion may both…" Naminé tried to protest, but the stranger cut her off.

"It can't be helped now." The stranger paused for a minute before he added in a very low whisper that Roxas and Xion almost did not hear. "There will be another chance later."

It was at this moment when Roxas realized who the man was, and quickly turned a bit angry. "Hey! You're that pickpocket from yesterday!"

"Back off Roxas! Riku already said he was sorry," Xion tried to tell her brother, but he was more caught on the name that Xion had just addressed the pickpocket by.

Right when Roxas was about to question his sister on that very fact, they both jumped a little as another dark portal appeared behind them, and they were suddenly pushed through. Before Roxas blacked out again, he heard the stranger whisper, "Don't think I've forgotten about that rematch you promised we'd have one day, Roxas. After all, I want to see what you've got when neither one of us are holding back."

* * *

"Seifer, strike a pose, y'know," was the first thing that Xion heard when she started coming around again.

"How's this," Seifer's voice asked, and the camera click that followed ended up being what drew Roxas back to world of the living, at least to the point where he could start getting himself up again.

"That's totally perfect, y'know," Rai cheered, just as both siblings finally opened their eyes to see Seifer standing over them while Fuu took pictures of them with her camera and Rai continued to encourage him to take a few more poses. Vivi seemed to be following his big friend's lead, but Xion could have sworn that she saw the little guy glancing over at her and her brother in a weird way every so often.

Another camera flash and a request for another photo that would likely depict her and her brother in an embarrassing light finally got Xion's blood boiling enough so that she was jumping to her feet and demanding, "Hey, what do you think you're doing?!"

"Yeah, what's that for," Roxas snapped once he was on his feet too.

"Keepsake," Fuu replied after putting her camera away.

"So you decided that it would be better to take photos of your boss instead of checking to see if we were all right? We could've been hurt and all you guys cared about was making Seifer look good at our expense," Xion snarled, ready to pounce on any one of the other four if they said the wrong thing. She noticed Roxas steadily moving closer to her, obviously preparing to hold her back if that did happen, but she really did not care. In her eyes, if these guys needed to be taught a lesson, then she would teach it to them.

Thankfully, they did not say anything that would have upset Xion, but it did not entirely calm her down either. "Hey, we did check to see if you were really hurt or not, but it looked like you were just passed out, y'know?"

"No problems," Fuu added on.

"Besides, those freaks in the white jumpsuits are gone now, y'know," Rai informed them.

"Cakewalk."

"Yeah, for us, you mean," Xion muttered under her breath. She would have said it a little louder, but given the warning look Roxas had been giving her after Rai's second statement, she knew that it would probably be smarter to keep it to herself. It was not like they really needed to defend themselves to these guys, or they would even believe anything that just happened to them.

"Do you have any idea what those…things were," Roxas asked when he saw that his sister was calm enough.

"Yeah. Outsiders, that's what," Seifer assuredly replied, earning a disbelieving sigh from both siblings as they shook their heads at his simplistic views. "And if they don't wise up to the rules around here, I might have to take 'disciplinary measures.'"

"Oh yeah, Seifer's always lookin' after the town, y'know," Rai agreed with a boastful pose.

"If by 'looking after the town' you mean basically pushing everyone around so that they do whatever he wants them to, then yeah, we do know," Xion retorted.

If either of the bigger boys were going to counter her response, they had quickly dropped it when they all noticed Fuu turning towards the entrance to the back alley leading to where Roxas and Xion usually hung out with their friends. When they turned to see what had caught the soft-spoken girl's attention, Roxas and Xion's hearts sank a little, because there, standing at the entrance to the alley, were Hayner, Pence, and Olette, and all three of them were clearly throwing some disappointed looks at the siblings. Hayner's look vanished quickest though, but only so it could be replaced by a hurt glare before he turned and rushed away, with the other two following him soon after.

"Hayner, wait," Xion called out as she gave chase.

"It's not what you guys think," Roxas added, barely paying any mind to Seifer's warning to not chicken out of the tournament tomorrow.

The two did not stop until they had finally reached the Usual Spot, where they found their three friends already seated around the place with sea-salt ice cream in hand. Only Hayner was eating any of it though, as the other two were just looking down at the ground in sadness. For once, the Usual Spot did not have an air of relaxation about it, but instead, a very tense awkwardness that the siblings knew they held some responsibility for. The silence that filled the room did nothing to make it any better, and when Pence finally broke it, his question did not help things either.

"So…you guys hung out with Seifer's gang today," Pence asked.

"N-no! It's not like that," Roxas insisted. "You and Olette knew we weren't doing that."

"Yeah, we told you that we were doing something really important," Xion tried to tell them, but she was not really sure what else they could say about what had happened to them that day. Thankfully, Roxas thought something that would probably help to alleviate the tension between all of them.

"Hey, how was the beach? Wasn't that today," Roxas asked, trying to make his voice a little more cheerful in an attempt to lighten the mood a bit more. Unfortunately, he did not succeed.

"We didn't go," Olette told him. "It wouldn't be the same without you guys, right?"

Roxas just hung his head in response, while Xion did the same as she rubbed her arm a little as she muttered, "Sorry…"

"How did your little 'mission' go anyway? Did you two find that girl," Olette asked, sounding honestly curious when she did.

"Uh…" Xion and Roxas both said, not really sure what they could tell their friends right now. It was probably okay to tell them that they learned Naminé's name, but from what Riku, or whoever that man in black was had indicated, if they said the wrong thing, they could put Naminé in trouble. When they did not say anymore though, the others took their hesitance to mean that they were unsuccessful, and just shrugged it off.

Xion was not going to just let it get away though, and said, "Hey…how about we go to the beach tomorrow? We could get those pretzels, the girl might show up there, and…"

"I promised I'd be somewhere," Hayner said, finally taking a breath from his ice cream to speak up, albeit in a short clipped tone.

That one statement was all Xion needed to hear to know she had just messed up. She knew that Hayner was referring to the promise that he had made with both herself and Roxas about the Struggle tournament tomorrow, and her suggestion to go to the beach tomorrow likely made him think that she had completely forgotten about it. In truth, she actually had for a moment, but only because she was so concerned about trying to cheer her friends up. Sure, it was not a good excuse, but it was the only one that Xion had at the moment. Her mistake had also made Roxas flinch a little bit too, and Hayner took that the wrong way as well, so he immediately stormed out without another word to either of the siblings. Xion tried calling out to him, but Hayner did not seem to want to hear her and just kept on marching for home.

"Don't worry about him," Olette tried to reassure Xion, knowing that she was trying to cheer everyone up. "He just needs some time to cool off. You'll see."

"I hope you're right, Olette," Roxas sighed.

* * *

 _"Restoration at 48 percent,"_ the computer reported, but DiZ was not in a good enough mood to really pay attention at the moment. The reason was clear as day to the room's other occupants, and DiZ knew that to be a fact, just like he knew that they had something to do with what had happened. He did not have any proof of this, but he just knew that was the case, and their supposed ignorance of the facts just made him even more upset.

"Was that Naminé made of data," the hooded man that Xion had called Riku asked, sounding honestly curious when he did.

"No. Naminé hijacked the data herself," DiZ replied, doing his best to keep his voice even and calm, so as not to give away any clues of his anger towards the other two. "Look what she's done now. She's totally beyond my control!"

Apparently DiZ suddenly slamming a fist into one of his many keyboards out of anger was not incentive enough for Ventus to keep quiet, because he went on ahead with his retort despite the masked man's anger. "Wow, someone with their own mind and sense of will is beyond your control? Who would have thought that other people could actually think for themselves? Truly a marvel of a discovery!"

The blatant sarcasm in Ventus's voice was enough to make DiZ jump up from his chair and turn a heated glare at the Keyblade master, showing he was not able to keep himself in check any longer. "Don't pretend like you had nothing to do with this," DiZ outright accused. "You put that meddling little witch up to this! I know you did! That Nobody wouldn't have ever thought of doing something like that on her own!"

"Oh please! Even if I did, she wouldn't have needed any 'prompting' to do that. I know you're not so blinded by hate to have missed the way Naminé and Roxas looked at each other the first time they met, or how she and Xion had connected after the girl came here looking for a way to help Sora," Ventus retorted just as angrily, his fingers already flexing in a way to suggest he was seconds away from summoning his Keyblade. "And another thing: I thought I told you to _never_ call her a witch! At the very least, not when you're in my presence."

"Calm down! Both of you," the hooded man cautioned, having easily sensed how the tension between the two was liable to explode at any moment. Having these two fight it out in this place would have caused far more harm than they needed right now, and they could not risk any of the equipment being destroyed before their task was done.

DiZ held his glare on Ventus for a few more moments before he finally took a deep breath and retook his previous, glancing over at the keypad he had previously struck to make sure it was not damaged when he did. "It doesn't matter in the end, either way," DiZ finally said when he was calm enough. "As long as Naminé accomplishes her goal we needn't worry about what befalls Roxas and the puppet."

"Her name is Xion, and I think you should be very worried about what may happen to them," Ventus reminded the masked man. "After all, if anything does happen to either of them, it'll be me you answer too."

Ventus then spun on his heel and left the room in a huff, leaving DiZ with that final warning. If the blonde had stuck around though, he would have heard DiZ's response to his latest warning. "Oh believe me, I remember that quite well, Master Ventus, but I'm not the least bit worried about you. It's the other Keyblade master that I'm more concerned about, assuming she somehow hears about any harm that may come to these Nobodies."

Despite his words though, DiZ actually was just as worried about what Ventus could do to him if he found out about the masked man's true intentions towards the siblings and Naminé. Although, if he were to be completely honest, he was even more worried about which of the two masters would get to him first. Even more terrifying though was what would happen if they both got to him at the same time, and that thought actually made DiZ shiver a little in fear. Not that anyone really noticed, or that it was enough to make him change his plans. He had already come too far to stop now, and he would be damned if he let anyone stop him.

* * *

 **Naminé's Diary Entry 1:**

 **I've never had a diary before, so I'm not entirely sure what to write in here. I mean, I've heard about what some people would write in these things, but considering that it was Larxene who gave it to me, I don't think I'll be writing too much. I'm pretty sure she only gave this to me so that she could steal it away and look for any new material to torture me with. (The fact that she's looking over my shoulder right now in an attempt to see what I'm writing is a pretty big clue that she can't wait for very long, too.)**

 **So let's see…well, my name's Naminé, I've lived my entire existence of a few days or weeks in this place called Castle Oblivion (I can't really say for sure since the sky outside the window does not ever seem to change with the passing days, and there's no calendar or anything anywhere in my room, or the castle as far as I know), and I love to draw. Like, a lot. Of course, most of my pictures are of this boy named Sora. I don't know how, but I know a lot about him, and his friends, Donald, Goofy, Ventus, Riku, and Kairi. All I know is that I'm a Nobody, someone who was born without a heart, but I don't know who's Nobody I am. I'm not entirely sure what it means to be a Nobody, but Axel and the others tell me that's what we all are, and that I'm apparently a really special kind of Nobody. If I'm so special though, then why do they call me a witch? I mean sure, I have the power to go into Sora's memories, and those of the people connected to his heart, and change them a little, and do a few other things that no one else can do with magic, but aren't witches supposed to be mean and ugly? I just want to meet someone nice and make some real friends. I doubt that will ever happen though, considering that Marluxia and the others never let me leave my room, let alone the castle.**

 **I guess you're wondering why I'm writing this down when I'm worried about Larxene stealing this so she can find new material to torture me with. Well, this is all stuff that she and the others already know about, so there's no way she could use it against me. She already knows she's a mean bully (and I think she takes that kind of thing as a compliment), but what I'm really worried about is how they all seem so sure that we'll be receiving guests soon. Not that I'm complaining or anything, but whom in their right mind would come to Castle Oblivion? And why do I have a bad feeling I'm not going to like whatever part they have me play in this person's stay?**

* * *

 ** _AN: Well, that's a wrap on one of the most important days of Summer Vacation: the day we met_** ** ** _Namin_** ** _é. Yeah, who else just knew that Xion was going to go a little crazy with teasing Roxas about his newfound crush on our favorite Nobody sorceress?_****

 ** ** _Xion &Axel: [both raise their hands up immediately]_****

 ** ** _AN: I was talking to the audience, you guys. That means besides you two._****

 ** ** _Xion &Axel: [lower their hands] Sorry._****

 ** ** _AN: Anyways, naturally_**** ** ** _Namin_** ** _é had a bit more dialogue here, for obvious reasons, and a little more, and then there's the whole fact that Roxas and Xion shared that they were both having the same weird dreams, because yeah, all the dreams we've seen so far have been had by both of them, including the memories of the Organization. It just seemed like the perfect time for them to reveal that info, otherwise, it would've been dragged out for far too long, to the point of being either silly, ridiculous, or just plain stupid._****

 ** ** _Roxas: Not to mention that you alluded to the fact that our memories of a certain old friend of ours were a bit stronger here than they were in canon._****

 ** ** _AN: Yeah, did everyone catch that? Because that should've been something that is seriously obvious. Moving along to the Dive to the Heart for the siblings. Obviously it was kept as short as it was in game, but like it has been so far with this series, it was not left at the choice between the sword, the shield, and the wand. Instead, it was left to a choice between three Keyblades, and I'm sure you all see the significance of them here. If you don't, I'll lay it out for you as simple as I can:_****

 ** ** _For Xion: the choices she had helped to display her nature as a replica that was originally created using Sora's most precious memories (those being his memories of Kairi), and how she's connected to both Sora and Kairi, and anyone else who's connected to both of them. That one being Aqua. I honestly would've gone with something else, but Aqua's Keyblade just seemed like the best option as the third choice here._****

 ** ** _For Roxas: his choices represented his connection to Sora via a mysterious past that Roxas has with Riku (as you've probably guessed from the end of the chapter here), his relation to Ventus, and of course, the fact that both he and Sora value the bond they share with their best friend. I know some people probably think that Xion is the one who gave Roxas the ability to use Oblivion at the same time as Oathkeeper, while the latter is one that Roxas can use by default, but aside from the reasons I had listed for Xion, I honestly think that Oblivion is just the Keyblade that Roxas would use the most if he had to choose between the two._****

 ** ** _And finally, the coup-de-grace..._****

 ** ** _Namin_** ** _é: You know, it's a little mean to post stuff from a girl's diary for all to see._****

 ** ** _AN: For the last time, woman, it's not your actual diary! It's just something that follows the same principle behind Ven's Journal Entries. Yeah, you heard right,_**** ** ** _Namin_** ** _é's diary is making a little debut here in the Keyblades Unleashed series, by filling in a few blanks on what all happened during the events of Chain of Memories in this timeline, as well as the things that happened afterwards. That's why I once said that those journal entries would have a more significant role in this story than they did in Dual Keys. It covers all the bases by having entries from the journals of various characters, and there's still at least one person's journal left to unveil, maybe even more._****

 ** ** _Roxas: Why do I have a sneaking suspicion about when we'll see some of the last few individuals' journals?_****

 ** ** _AN: I don't know. Why do you have a sneaking suspicion about when we'll see some of the last few individuals' journals?_****

 ** ** _Roxas:...Uhhhh..._****

 ** ** _AN: Ah well. Probably not too important anyway (Or is it?), so for now, let's get on to the important part of the ending author's notes?_****

 ** ** _Ventus: Hang on. Aren't we going to talk about the confrontation between me and DiZ, or what was implied there?_****

 ** ** _AN: No, I think it was pretty self-explanatory. Now if there are no further interruptions, Onto the Preview!..._****

 ** _The day of the Struggle tournament is here, and despite any bad blood there might be between Hayner and the siblings, Roxas and Xion are definitely excited for the big event. Thankfully, those problems are quickly resolved, and the whole gang is able to have all the fun that they can. Or at least it seems that way, until another round of strangeness strikes Roxas and Xion, only this time, it includes someone who claims to be from the past that they cannot remember. Just who is this tall man with flaming red hair, and if he really is their friend, then why is he attacking them? Find out what comes from day four, next time._**

 ** _Yep, it's time to get ready to Struggle! And we all know who shows up during and after that big event. I'll bet everyone's excited about that. Until then though..._**

 ** _Please read and review, and see ya real soon!_**


	4. Summer Vacation: Day 4

_**AN: Well, once again, this took a little longer than I thought to finish, and also longer than I would've liked, but no use crying over spilled milk, right? Because either way, we're back with the next chapter of Keyblade Legion!**_

 _ **[audience applause]**_

 _ **Xion: And we're going to be seeing a lot of old friends returning this chapter too, both from the previous story, and from previous lives, namely mine and Roxas's previous lives!**_

 _ **AN: Hey! Just because I think you're cute, doesn't mean I'm gonna letcha steal my job!**_

 _ **Xion: Sorry. I'm just really excited for the new chapter and all the things we'll be uncovering here.**_

 _ **AN: Yeah, I can't say I blame you, but first, let's answer a review or two, shall we?**_

 _ **Roxas: How about we start with "Monkey D. Conan"? I think he brought up some very good questions.**_

 _ **AN: Sure. Let's see, regarding Axel's drive in the story this time, along with other Axel related questions...well, that'll all be something we give a little hint to or reveal later on in this chapter. Same goes for your question as to what Aqua has been doing all this time. Though why she has not come to see Ven just yet, well that's something that will be revealed later on in the story, assuming that you can't guess what the reason is by the end of the chapter. As for whether or not Ventus knows Flowmotion...To be honest, the thought had not really occurred to me that much until recently, but I would say that he at least knows the basics of it. He just hasn't had time to master it as of yet. The guy has been busy doing a lot of things in the last year after all, and since he received the Mark of Mastery.**_

 _ **Axel: There's also that question that "Greatwestern1522" asked about what your plans for the Battle of 1000 Heartless are, and whether or not the battles against the data versions of Organization XIII will be included.**_

 _ **AN: What the?! Where did you come from?! Better yet, where have you been? We were prepared to start this note forever ago, and you were nowhere to be seen.**_

 _ **Axel: Sorry, but I just had to step out really quick to grab...the icing on the cake. [produces a few sticks of sea-salt ice cream, two of which he immediately hands to Roxas and Xion]**_

 _ **Roxas: All right! [happily accepts the ice cream]**_

 _ **Xion: Perfect! Just what we need to really finalize a chapter being ready for viewing! [does the same as Roxas]**_

 _ **Axel: Yeah, and I would've been back sooner, but the line was so long I almost thought I was in Wonderland.**_

 _ **AN: Oh okay. Anyways, getting to the topic that Axel and that reviewer brought up, it is still a little too soon to be asking about that particular battle with the Heartless, so sorry, but I won't be saying anything on that just yet. As for the Organization XIII Data battles, I don't think I'll be going with those. You'll see the Absent Silhouette battles, but the Data ones, not so much.**_

 _ **Xion: Oh! Can I just give a quick comment to the guest reviewer "Guest" from 10/3/2018? Let me just say that...I really like you. That made me smile a lot when I read that review. It's always nice to see someone who cares so much about me.**_

 ** ** _Namin_** ** _é_**** _ **: Same here.**_

 _ **AN: Yeah, I figured you would feel that way. Now, let's have a quick shout out to "Guest Isa"...**_

 _ **Roxas, Xion, & Axel: WHERE?! [Roxas and Xion whip out their Keyblades with hateful glares scanning the room while Axel frantically searches with hope in his eyes]**_

 _ **AN: Not that Isa, you guys. A guest reviewer.**_

 _ **Roxas, Xion, & Axel: Oh, yeah. We knew that. [all calm down]**_

 _ **AN: Ahem, first off, don't worry about how your criticism sounded, and glad to hear that your such an admirer of my work. As for the point you brought up in the first part of your review, you have to remember that despite their encounter with future versions of Sora and Kairi in Keyblades of Future Past, neither of them are able to predict the future, and only act to do what's best in that moment. Terra-Xehanort was highly amnesic and steadily showing signs of turning back into Terra at the time, but that would likely have never happened if he fell into darkness, so Aqua did what she thought was the best way to get her friend back to his old self at the time. As for Ventus, he was working really hard on finishing his training and becoming a Keyblade master at the time, so it was not like he was going to just drop everything to solve every problem that the worlds had just like that, especially since he considered it to be so important.**_

 _ **Ventus: Besides, you'll recall that Future Sora and Kairi asked Mickey to make sure to look out for certain KH characters, and Roxas, Xion, and**_ ** ** _Namin_** ** _é_**** _ **were all on that list. DiZ is too consumed in his hatred and desire for revenge to really care about their well-being, so of course she and I are going to have to strongarm him on a few things to keep them safe. We understand his reasoning, but that doesn't make it any more right to treat kids the way he did so that he could fulfill a selfish desire. Besides, like lyokoMARVELanime said, I was busy training my ass off at the time to become a master, and I was not entirely sure if Xehanort the apprentice and Terra-Xehanort (or just straight up Xehanort) were the same person. Can't really act on a simple suspicion. Last time I did that didn't end too well if you'll recall.**_

 ** _AN: Moving on..."The Keeper of Worlds", you actually bring up a very interesting idea that I might run with later on as a little joke in the main story. Thanks for that in advance._**

 ** _By the way, "Guest" of 10/4/2018, regarding your question about Ven and Aqua getting some alone time (wink-wink, nudge-nudge)..._**

 ** _Ven &Aqua: [both blush crimson at the implications]_**

 ** _AN: Yeah, if you've read some of my other stories, you should know that such things will be implied at some point or another, but we definitely won't be seeing anything on screen when it happens. Gotta keep it at PG-13 at most after all._**

 ** _Sora: And while we're talking to guests, "Guest" of 10/9/2018, thanks for the wish of congrats in regards to my big win against Pit. Honestly, I'd be really surprised if there was ever any doubt about my victory._**

 ** _AN: HEY! WHOA! BACK IN THE POD MISTER! You're still too early! [hits control]_**

 ** _Sora: Uh-oh. [suddenly finds the memory pod springing up around him before it retracts back into the floor]_**

 ** _AN: Oi. Some people are just so impatient. But yeah, I do agree with Sora. There really should never have been any doubt about that win. Let's wrap up these review answers with a response to "Anonymaton"...hmm, I really don't know, but I highly doubt that any Star Wars characters will be serving time as a secret boss in KH3, let alone total bosses like Vader or Maul, but I do understand why you would hope that would be the case at least. Let's be honest, we're all hoping to see a little bit of Star Wars or Marvel in KH3 when it comes out._**

 ** _Now, I think we've wrapped up our review responses for this chapter, so what're we waiting around here for? It's time to Struggle!_**

 ** _I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story._**

* * *

 **Chapter IV**

 _With the start of a new dream, came some new visions, and as usual, they all followed the memories of Sora and his friends. The only difference this time, was that it looked like Sora was viewing a very important memory as well, as he was looking on at a much younger version of the red haired girl as she talked to a woman with blue hair._ "Are these for me," _the blue haired woman asked._

 _The redhead immediately nodded with a smile and explained,_ "I picked you some flowers. Thank you for saving me."

 _The woman's smile grew much bigger and softer after hearing that and accepting the flowers, and she did not seem able to hold back her appreciation when she next spoke._ "Oh, they're lovely. You're so sweet." _There was a brief jump in the memory, obviously skipping over a few things, as the next thing that was heard was the woman introducing herself to the redhead._ "I'm Aqua."

 _Another scene jump in the memory being viewed showed the redhead listening to something an old woman was saying, likely the redhead's grandma, while Aqua watched them leaving, but only some of the last lines could be heard._ "Even in the deepest darkness, there will always be a light to guide you. Believe in the light, and the darkness will never defeat you. Your heart will shine with its power and push the darkness away."

"Something tells me I didn't run into her by accident," _the blue haired woman could be heard saying before the memory Sora was watching came to an end._

 _Another scene jump showed the four friends standing in a very strange place, where it looked like the water in the falls surrounding them were ascending upwards as opposed to their proper direction, and an old, rather ruined castle loomed over them. For some reason, the place seemed to be frightening to Ventus, because he let out an astonished gasp as his face grew very pale. "What's the matter, Ven," Donald asked, feeling more than a little concerned for their friend._

 _Ventus did not say anything in response, and it almost looked like he had been completely frozen in place while his breath had gotten caught in his throat. It was not until Goofy gave him a small shake that the blonde finally came out of it, but his horrorstruck look did not fade at all. Seeing that, Goofy immediately asked, "Are you okay, Ven?"_

 _"I wish I could say that I was," Ventus quietly admitted, earning more concerned looks from his friends. "I think…No, I know that I've been here before."_

 _"You have," all three of the others gasped in shock, with Jiminy repeating the question once he had jumped up onto Sora's shoulder a second later._

 _"Unfortunately, yes, and I can say with utmost confidence that this world was nothing like it is now when I was last here," Ventus explained, having now figured out at least one mystery that had plagued him for many years now. "Hook was right to say that this place was the ruins of something, because Hollow Bastion…Is actually the ruins of Radiant Garden."_

 _Another scene shift saw Sora and his friends confronting Riku once more, only for the silver haired boy to raise his hand up, and then suddenly seem to pull the Keyblade out of Sora's hand and into his own._ _"It's up to me," Riku grinned, mockingly. "Only the chosen Keyblade master can open the secret door and change the world. There can't be two wielders of the same Keyblade."_

 _Sora could then be seen looking very downcast, while Ventus stood over him, attempting to cheer up the boy, and the speech he gave was likely a huge motivator for Sora. "I could sense that someone had indeed passed the power of the Keyblade to Riku, but I'm absolutely positive that the Kingdom Key was never meant for him. Surely you must have sensed something that would prove that to you better than anybody before it jumped to his hand, right?" He immediately took Sora's silence as a yes, and pressed on by saying, "Then it's up to you to get it back. In that moment, Riku managed to overpower your claim on the Kingdom Key, yes, but as its true wielder, you can still reclaim it by showing that you do possess the strength of heart to be the master of Kingdom Key."_

 _"Are you sure," Sora asked. "What if I do try and it turns out that I'm not worthy of it after all?"_

 _"Trust me, Sora. You have no idea how sure I am that you're worthy of Kingdom Key, and even if I didn't know, I'd still be telling you all of this, because I believe it to be true, just like I believe in you," Ventus promised with a smile._

 _Another scene jump saw Ventus summon forth a Keyblade from a Keychain, before Sora was seen using that Keyblade until they stood before Riku again, this time while the silver haired boy was wearing a very dark outfit that just radiated with the powers of darkness. "Are you sure you've met a Keyblade Master before, because if you did, you would know that a real master would never quit, especially not when they're so close to their goal like Sora and I are now," Ventus could be heard questioning Riku._

 _Riku was then seen throwing a blast purple fire at both Sora and Ventus, apparently in a blind rage, only for Goofy to jump in front of the blast and block it with his shield, as he was heard commenting, "But I'm not gonna betray Sora either, 'cause he's become one of my best buddies after all we've been through together! And not only is Ven one of my best buddies too, he's also the king's former apprentice and one of his best buddies, so I figure that betraying Ven might as well be just as bad as betraying the king."_

 _"All for one and one for all," Donald could be heard cheering as he was seen joining the other three on their side. A minute later, the Keyblade disappeared from Riku's hand, and then rematerialized in Sora's once more._

 _"I know now I don't need a Keyblade. I've got a better weapon, and it's one that I've had all along: my heart," Sora declared proudly. "My friends are my power!"_

 _"And that goes for all of us, too," Ventus punctuated, Guardian Wind at the ready as well._

 _A few scenes of an epic battle between Sora and Riku could be seen, even through a few of the blurry images of the red haired girl, including one of Sora holding her body in his arms as he shook her in an attempt to wake her up. At one point, one could even see Sora's body was lit up with a glowing aura of energy. "This is my Unique Tier One Command Style," Sora could be heard shouting as he charged in and began attacking in a much different way than before._

 _Another scene shift allowed one to see a massive bestial creature standing alongside the four friends, though from how little panic they were displaying, it was clear that they were not enemies of this beast. "So, your heart won this battle," the beast commented in a rough, growling voice._

 _Sora merely nodded in reply before the scene shifted again, showing both master and apprentice standing before a man in a black coat, who actually walked through Sora beforehand. A moment later, the mystery man shot out a stream of lightning from one hand, which Sora managed to block once he had summoned forth his Keyblade on instinct. After deflecting the electric blast upwards and away from him, Sora and Ventus seemed to just stare down the hooded man for several moments in silence. Whether or not a battle had followed afterwards would not be known, as the dream shifted once again, to show Sora holding the redhead girl's body in his arms, while mentally talking with said girl._ "What's wrong? I thought you wanted to go back into your body. You seemed like you were going to be able to go back on Neverland," _Sora questioned._

"Sora, think for a minute. If all of the other Princesses of Heart are here, and have lost their hearts, then what do you think that this machine is for," _the redhead reasoned._ "This has to be what Maleficent and whoever's controlling Riku are using to create that Keyhole to darkness, so what if I jump back into my body only for the Keyhole to become fully completed?"

 _Whatever she meant about someone controlling Riku was cleared up, because the next scene shift showed Riku in his dark form, with a sinister looking Keyblade in his hand, and even in the dream, the feeling he gave off could easily tell someone that he was not truly Riku. "It is I, Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness," Not-Riku revealed._

 _"Do you seriously expect me to believe that," the Ventus could be heard asking as the scenes shifted a little once more. "I know the real Ansem, and I realized long ago that while the pages from the report we've been looking for were written by you, you're not Ansem. Not the real one, at least," Ventus informed him. He then placed a hand to his nose as he added, "Besides, I'd know the stench of your vast darkness anywhere, so you couldn't fool me with that lie even if you wanted to actually try."_

 _Ansem just scowled at Ventus through Riku's eyes, having been able to quickly realize that the blonde was not bluffing, until he finally scoffed and remarked, "So, you think you've become so much smarter, do you, you feckless neophyte? Shame it won't stop me from achieving my goal." After another scene shift, one could see Sora on his knees, clutching his chest where his heart would be, while Ansem raised the sinister Keyblade up in preparation to run him through, as he could be heard shouting, "Lead me into everlasting darkness!"_

 _"SORA," the redhead girl could be heard shouting from within his heart, almost sounding like she was struggling against something when she did, but thankfully, it was enough to pull Sora to his feet so that he could block Ansem's blade with his own Keyblade._

 _"Forget it! There's no way I'm ever letting you take Kairi's heart," Sora snarled as he finally managed to push Ansem back, finally saying the red haired girl's name in full for the first time in all of these dreams. "You'll have to destroy me before that can happen."_

 _"And to get him, you'll have to go through me," Ventus promised as he ran over to Sora's side, Guardian Wind in hand and a glare firmly fixed on Ansem._

 _Several hazy images then played across the mind's eye, starting with Goofy, Donald, and Ventus all looking at Sora with varying degrees of panic and distress, despite their words of panic being silenced in the dream. The images then showed Sora giving the three a smile before he turned Ansem's Keyblade on himself and stabbed it into his chest, all the while, one could faintly hear him thinking,_ "I love you, Kairi."

 _The next images that played showed Kairi's heart returning to her body, while Donald and Ventus both rushed towards Sora as his body began to disappear into several faint lights as he fell towards the ground. Kairi could be seen trying to catch him before he fell, but he quickly broke apart into several, fading glimmers of sparks that floated up and twinkled out like stars. The next images were especially hazy, like someone had been going through the events with their eyes closed and with ear plugs in, because the only noises that could be heard, were muffled sounds of battle, and someone shouting out something that sounded like "Spellweaver," but a minute later, that same person who said that could faintly be heard encouraging Sora, but all that was heard was the end of her speech. "Kairi and the others are all waiting for you! NOW GO!"_

 _The next images that faded through the mind's eye were a bit more focused, as they showed Ventus, Donald, and Goofy all battling off Heartless, while Kairi was suddenly surrounded by them, until a bright light suddenly erupted from the center of the dog-pile that jumped on top of her. When the light faded, everyone saw Sora standing proud and tall, with the redhead held in his arms. "Kairi," Sora whispered._

 _A minute later, a completely clear image of the redhead named Kairi appeared before the mind's eye, smiling widely, as if glad to see that someone she really cared about with all of her heart still remembered her. The scene quickly jumped again, this time showing the man known as Leon and his friends standing before the adventurers, as he revealed something that was rather disheartening. "Before all this, you didn't know about the other worlds, right," Leon asked._

 _"Well the reason no one really knew for sure was because every world was isolated," a woman named Aerith explained. "Impassable walls divided them, but the Heartless destroyed those walls, and if the worlds return, so will the walls."_

 _"Which means that gummi ships will be useless, and all the pathways that you could travel will be wiped from existence," Leon finished at last, finally unveiling the big truth that had been kept hidden for so long._

 _"My friends and I were only able to reach other worlds because of our armor and Keyblades, and while there are people who can do so without a Keyblade, they had a very special magic at their disposal or help from another wielder," Ventus was then explaining. "For now, this could very well be the last time we see each other, at least as far as anyone who's from a world that is different from yours is concerned."_

 _"But then…wouldn't that also mean," Kairi started to ask, her eyes already trailing back to Yuna and a boy known as Tidus. From the looks on their faces, it seemed that they had also realized this fact, and they were not any happier about it either. Yuna especially._

 _"No," Yuna whispered, shaking her head in defiance of the idea._

 _"Hey, it'll be okay, Yuna," Tidus tried to reassure her, even though he was clearly not so confident about it himself. His only response was Yuna shaking her head again, and he quickly stepped over to wrap his arms around her in a gentle hug. "Come on. It'll be okay. I don't care what the others say. We will see each other again someday."_

 _"But…But…I don't want to say goodbye," Yuna whispered._

 _When the scene started to cut out a little, it did not do so for long, as Leon was soon heard saying, "We may never meet again, but we'll never forget each other."_

 _"No matter where we are, our hearts will bring us together again," Aerith added with a smile._

 _After another scene shift, Ventus could be seen sparing one last look to Leon and the others before he said something that sounded really empowering. "May our hearts be our guiding key."_

 _Once again, the scene shifted, this time showing Sora and Kairi together in a cave, with Ventus somewhere close by, as the girl placed a star-shaped charm made of seashells into Sora's hand. "Take this," Kairi said. "It's my lucky charm. Be sure to give it back to me when this journey is finally over."_

 _"Don't worry. I will," Sora said with a smile._

 _"Promise," Kairi asked. Sora's answer was likely a positive one to reaffirm Kairi's faith in him, but all the same, she could still be heard saying a few other things as the dream carried on. "I don't want you to get hurt, either, and that's why I have to go with you. I want to do whatever I can to help make sure that you're safe, and that we can all come back home after this is over. More than that, I don't want to be separated from you after being with you through all of this." When the scene shifted again, it showed Sora, Ventus, and Kairi each wielding a Keyblade as they faced off with a massive beast, as Kairi's voice could be heard saying, "Don't ever forget. Wherever you go, I'm always with you."_

 _That was where the dreams ended on the segments involving Sora and his friends, including Kairi, who was now positively revealed as more than just a friend, because from that point on, it was showing more images of Roxas and Xion's time in the group of people in black coats. There was something different about them this time, because as a few of the visions passed by the mind's eye, there was clearly a third person that was often with Roxas and Xion, but whoever they were, their face was often hidden in a blur or behind the hood of his coat, even though there was a distinct feeling that he was not wearing said hood at the time._

 _The mystery figure did not appear right from the start, as the first scene showed Roxas standing at Xion's bedside, looking very worried, until the girl suddenly awoke with a gasp. "WHOA," Roxas cried out in shock when his sister suddenly jumped up in bed. He managed to regain his composure though, and greeted, "Uh…good morning, Xion."_

 _"Oh…Morning…"Xion hesitantly replied, worried for her brother figure._

 _Seeing her distress, Roxas immediately reassured her, "You woke up so suddenly, you just startled me."_

 _"S-sorry," Xion bashfully nodded. She was soon gazing down to the side in embarrassment until she noticed something lying on her pillow that brought a smile to her face. "Did you bring me these seashells?"_

 _Roxas nodded proudly in reply, happy to see Xion smiling at the sight of the colorful seashells, and it grew a little more as she picked one up and held it to her ear with her eyes closed. "Do you hear it," he asked._

 _"Yeah. The sound of the waves," Xion confirmed with an almost nostalgic smile. After another moment of listening to said sound in the shell, Xion finally opened her eyes and asked, "How long was I asleep?"_

 _"About twenty days," Roxas informed her._

 _"That long," Xion gasped in disbelief._

 _"Yeah. You were sleeping so much that me and…were getting worried," Roxas confirmed, and while it was clear that he had mentioned another name, for some reason, it appeared to be blocked out._

 _"I'm sorry about that," Xion apologized once again, before placing a hand to her chest. "Kind of weird that we can feel anything at all. Without having hearts to feel with…"_

 _Roxas glanced down in contemplative thought, clearly having something on his mind, before he finally asked, "Do you really think…that we don't have hearts?"_

 _"Huh? What do you mean," Xion asked with a curious look._

 _"Just…Just humor me for a minute," Roxas pleaded with her._

 _Xion scrunched her brow in thought before she finally said, "I'm not sure, actually. There are starting to be days where I think that…maybe I do have a heart, despite what the others say."_

 _"Yeah," Roxas nodded, having felt the same thing quite a bit recently. He then shook his head and said, "Don't worry about it too much. I'm only asking because of something that somebody said to me a little while back while you were asleep."_

 _A short scene shift saw a later moment in the same conversation, at a point where Xion said, "I'd like to tag along."_

 _"But don't you need some more rest," Roxas questioned, clearly worried._

 _"I'll be fine. C'mon, take me with you," Xion insisted, and while she was not giving Roxas a sad-puppy-face, the way she was smiling at him with those bright blue eyes of hers was just so cute that it made it impossible for him to say no._

 _"All right…Sure," Roxas sighed in defeat, earning a cute little giggle of excitement from Xion, while he just groaned. "I swear, you are cheating when you look at me like that, Sis."_

 _"Maybe a little," was the only response Xion could give, as she was clearly too happy to really care right now._

 _When the scene shifted again, one could see Roxas walking alongside a taller individual with Xion in his arms, apparently asleep or unconscious. This was the first moment when the mystery figure whose face was always hidden had first appeared. A minute later, another man that was just as tall as the mystery individual came to stand before the three, and dispassionately, though almost arrogantly remarked, "Well that didn't take long. Did it break again?"_

 _"She's not an 'it'," Roxas angrily snapped, obviously having a problem with this individual. Apparently, the mystery man was not too fond of the comment either, as he stopped only for a moment to whisper some words of caution to the offender before moving along to carry Xion to bed._

 _Another scene shift saw Roxas and Xion sitting atop the Twilight Town clock tower with the mystery man, this time appearing to have his hood up instead of just having his face blurred out, and all three of them had sea-salt ice cream in hand. "Hey…," Xion suddenly asked, the name of the mystery man being blocked out, since it looked like she was addressing him._

 _"Hm," the mystery man hummed in question._

 _"You've been to Castle Oblivion, right," Xion proceeded._

 _"Yeah."_

 _Xion just hummed at that response, and then fell silent before she asked, "What is it like?"_

 _"What's it like? Just an Organization research facility," the man replied like he was talking about something that was not really a big deal._

 _"For research, huh," Roxas repeated. "Seems everyone gets sent there all the time. Especially you."_

 _"Although…they never send me or Roxas," Xion softly noted._

 _"Well…they probably just don't need you there," the mystery man shrugged, but to the other two, it sounded like he was trying to hide something._

 _Xion then stood up to leave, apparently earlier than usual if Roxas's surprised look was any indication, when suddenly, she seemed to get dizzy, lost her footing, and fell over the side. Roxas did not hesitate to throw himself forward and grabbed her hand before she fell all the way down to the ground several stories below, and with the taller man's help, he managed to pull her back up onto solid ground again. "Maybe…you're not completely well yet," Roxas cautioned, after he had checked to make sure she was okay._

 _"No, it's nothing like that," Xion insisted, but her expression made it clear that she was not so sure._

 _The three were silent for a few moments afterwards, until the tallest of the bunch suddenly cheered, "Got it!"_

 _"Huh? Got what," Roxas asked._

 _"On our next day off, let's all go to the beach, huh," the man excitedly suggested._

 _"The beach? Where did that idea come from," Xion questioned._

 _"We should go someplace different for a change," the man shrugged like it was obvious._

 _"You're talking about a vacation with friends," Roxas happily realized._

 _"Exactly!"_

 _While the other two were clearly getting more and more excited about the idea, Xion seemed hesitant, even as she said, "I'll join you…if I can."_

 _"What're you talking about, Sis," Roxas questioned._

 _"It'll be a blast, trust me," the taller man reassured her._

 _That seemed to be the thing that sold the proposal for Xion, as she immediately smiled brightly again and declared, "Yes, all right. Let's go."_

 _Another scene shift saw Roxas and Xion standing in an alley of Twilight Town, and from the way Xion was holding her Keyblade at Roxas, it was not for a pleasant conversation. Still, from the look on her face, it was clear that the silent threat was not something that Xion was willing to follow through with, or even wanted to issue. Of course, that was only of mild note to how Xion had summoned the Keyblade into her left hand, and she did not change it over to her right, even after she had to deflect a red and silver chakram that came flying at her from out of nowhere. When the round, spiked weapon vanished in a small burst of flames, the mystery man with a blurred face casually stepped forward._

 _"Well, hello there, Xion," the man greeted like he was giving a normal greeting, only it was clear that his intentions were not friendly._

 _That became even clearer when Xion suddenly charged in and started attacking him, despite Roxas's pleas for them to wait. The man immediately summoned forth the chakram once more, in a burst of flames, along with a second one, and the two were soon going at it right before Roxas's frightened eyes. Clearly he did not want to see the two battling it out like they were bitter enemies, but there was obviously nothing he could do to stop them. Eventually, it became too much for him to watch, and he finally shouted for them to stop. Only Xion seemed to listen to him though, as the taller man immediately hit her in the back of the neck when she paused, and then scooped her up over his arm before teleporting away as Roxas tried to reach them. The blonde did not make it though, as the two were already gone by the time he was close enough._

 _"Well, that wasn't too smart of you," a new voice remarked, and Roxas turned to see the armored man approach him._

 _"I didn't want my sister and best friend fighting like that," Roxas tried to say._

 _"I understand, but all the same, you really should've just let it happen. He's too far deep into the Organization to do what Xion has already taken the first steps towards," the armored man informed him._

 _Roxas seemed like he was going to question the armored man on this, but the scene shifted again, to one that was far more pleasant, and likely earlier on, as it showed Roxas and Xion sitting with the blurry-faced man with smiles on their faces and ice cream in hand. "I just…want these days to last forever. Hanging out, the ice cream, the sunsets…" Roxas could be heard saying._

 _"Me too," Xion agreed._

 _"Well, nothing lasts forever, you know? Least of all for a bunch of Nobodies like us," the taller man told them, gaining the other two's attention. "But it's okay if things change and we can't meet up here. As long as we keep each other in our thoughts, none of us will ever have to be apart. Got it memorized?"_

 _When another shift came, it saw Xion standing before the Old Mansion, with Keyblade in hand as she stared down the taller, blurry-faced man with a determined fire in her eyes, and somehow, it could still be seen through the blur that the taller man was in complete, disbelieving shock. "I'm not going back to rejoin the Organization, no matter what. I know what I have to do, and I need Roxas's help to do it," Xion resolutely informed the taller man. "If you want to stop me or Roxas, then you'll have to destroy me here and now. I won't be holding anything back even we are best friends,…"_

 _Apparently, that was the straw that broke the camel's back for the mystery man, because after continuing to stare at Xion in disbelief, and eventually frustration, he angrily shouted, "What's your problem?! You both…think you can do whatever you want. Well, I'm sick of it. Go on, you just keep running. But I'll always be there to bring you back!"_

 _Despite seeing him brandish his weapons at her, Xion could not help but smile at him, albeit sadly, as she stated, "I know…And thank you for that…"_

 _Another scene shift saw Roxas standing before the tall man in a large room that was varying shades of grey, and he was clearly regarding the man with suspicion. "Have you known…about Xion this whole time," Roxas asked._

 _The taller man was silent, before he finally admitted, "No, not the whole time."_

 _"Since when then?"_

 _"Uhhh…I can't exactly remember when," the man hesitantly replied while scratching his head._

 _"Didn't get it memorized, huh," Roxas joked, showing that he knew that the taller man was being honest about that. His smile fell afterwards, and his next few sentences heard were clearly shortened or following off of something else, because there were a few gaps filled with static as he spoke. "Who am I, really? I'm special, like Xion. I know that, but the Organization wanted me out of the picture…they didn't need me anymore, and…, I guess you felt the same way."_

 _"You're wrong there," the man immediately denied. "You'll always be…my best friend."_

 _"Best friends are supposed to be honest with each other," Roxas heatedly pointed out. "Who am I, …?"_

 _"Finding out the truth doesn't always work out for the best," the taller man snapped, sounding just as angry as Roxas now._

 _"What makes you so sure about that? I have the right to know the truth," Roxas retorted, shocking the taller man a little. "How did I even get here? Why am I so special? Where did I learn how to use the Keyblade?! I hardly know who I am! What is so wrong with wanting some answers?!"_

 _"You've just gotta trust me, Roxas," was all that the taller man could say in response, his voice soft and a bit subdued._

 _"…I don't. I can't," Roxas finally stated before he turned away, not even turning back as the taller man called out to him. "Somebody knows where I came from, Xion has a clue about that, and if we can't get answers here, we'll get them somewhere else. Xion…No, my sister and that person are the only ones I trust."_

* * *

Roxas awoke with a start right when the dream ended, and he could not help but pant like he had just run a marathon, even as his ran through the things he had just seen in his most recent dream. More importantly, he had to wonder how Xion was taking this information, since he now knew that she was seeing the same things in her dreams that he was seeing in his. Then again, that was not to say that she was seeing all the exact same things in the exact same way as him, or on the exact same nights even, but somehow, Roxas just knew that she probably was. His suspicions were quickly confirmed when he heard a knock at his door, and Xion came in with a concerned look on her face, still dressed in her night gown.

"You had another dream about Sora and the others, right? And about us in that group of people with black coats," Xion questioned.

"Yeah," Roxas nodded. He then smiled a little as he tried to cheer her up by saying, "Well, if these really are memories, at least now we know that you've always had a thing for seashells."

Xion smiled in appreciation for Roxas's attempts to make her feel better, because he was not wrong about that. The large number of seashells that lay in various parts of her room, such as her windowsill, dresser, and night stand could certainly attest to that. Still, there was one thing about the dreams that had her really concerned. "Hey, did you see a tall guy with a blurry face in your dreams that seemed to always be hanging out with us?"

"Yeah," Roxas nodded in reply. "But I get the feeling I didn't really trust him too much in the end, if the last conversation I saw us having was any indication."

Xion nodded in understanding at that, before her mind latched onto another thing that stuck out in her, or rather their dreams that seemed to pertain to their current situation. "'Promise'…and 'best friends are supposed to be honest with each other,'" she quoted from the dreams.

"Right," Roxas nodded, knowing that she referring to the situation that had now unfolded between them and Hayner. He waved his arm around like he was holding a Struggle bat, only to stop and scratch his head while he moaned, "What a mess…"

"Tell me about it. At least you're not the one that Hayner probably has the biggest problem with," Xion sighed in sadness.

"More like second biggest problem," Roxas corrected. "No matter what, we all know that Seifer's the person that Hayner will always have the biggest problem with."

Xion could not help but giggle a little in response to that, knowing that her brother was right, and then turned to leave the room so they could both get changed for the day. Despite whatever may have come between them and their friends, there was no way the twins were going to let that hurt their excitement for the tournament. At least, not by that much.

* * *

It was not until the two had finished getting dressed and gotten to the kitchen that they realized that they were going to be late for the tournament, and when they did strike this realization, Roxas and Xion quickly rushed through breakfast and out the door so that they could get to the Sandlot on time, the former more so than the latter, since he was the one who was actually competing in the tournament. Xion was really just rushing because she did not want to miss out on a single thing that happened in the tournament, and wanted to make sure that she could cheer on both her brother and Hayner for the entire time that they were in the event. When they finally got to the Sandlot, they had to breathe a sigh of relief when they saw that the opening ceremony was only just starting, and they were able to spot two of their friends pretty quickly. After giving Roxas a quick wish of good luck, Xion made a beeline for Olette and Pence, just in time to hear Olette say that she was going to be cheering on both of her friends at the same time, while Roxas just headed over to a spot that was closer to the arena stage in an attempt to try and spot Hayner, all while they both listened to the announcer making his opening remarks.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Struggle-fiends of Twilight Town! It's time for summer's most sizzling clash," the tournament sponsor declared with a wide grin. "That's right! Today is the day for the Struggle and title match! Who will be the one to break through the ranks and take on our champion, Setzer?! And who will leave today as our new Struggle Champion?!"

"Hayner! Roxas!" Xion, Pence, and Olette all cheered, but their cheers were quickly drowned out when the crowd saw that the reigning champion himself had stepped into the ring with his usual calm, confident smile.

Setzer's usual smile was only one of the interesting things about him, as one would also quickly taken note of his long, silver hair and violet eyes, along with the number of thin scars that ran across his face. No one was really sure how he got those scars, as many people claimed that he changed the story every time he told it, but a lot of folks speculated it was from something in his life before he was a champion Struggler. His attire consisted of his usual lilac shirt that was slightly unbuttoned at the top so show a bit of his chest, black pants that were secured by a black belt with a silver buckle and tucked into knee-high lilac boots, a purple sash around his waist that covered half of his left leg, and a long black coat yellow lining being draped over his shoulders, kept in place by a short silver chain that was attached to two silver skull pins on either side of said coat. The only difference from his usual appearance was the fact that he had the championship belt draped over his shoulder. All-in-all, he looked like someone who had enjoyed being at the top of the food chain for quite some time, and the crowd's cheers definitely served as additional confirmation of that.

"Yes, the crowd is fired up, so you know what comes next," the sponsor cheered. "Let's…"

"STRUGGLE," everyone shouted along with the sponsor, the crowd's cheers now reaching a whole new volume afterwards, while fireworks erupted in the sky above them. After listening to the fireworks for a few moments, Xion pulled her attention back to the arena, and saw that Biggs from the armory shop had taken the tournament's sponsor's place on stage.

"Hey, now! It's time to introduce today's combatants," Biggs shouted to everyone, and the crowd quickly responded as many would expect to each of the individuals that were listed off. "Regular finalist and head of the Twilight Town Disciplinary Committee: Seifer! Completely out of nowhere, who knew he'd make it so far _this_ year? Vivi! An underground favorite and local attitude problem: Hayner! It's his first trip to the finals! And Struggler number four, who happens to be one of my two absolute favorite customers: Roxas! It's actually a bit of a shame that his sister, Xion isn't in this tournament too, but it's great to see at least one of the all-star twins here today, and we just might see her join in on the action for the title match, so fingers crossed for that. So, who will win this sweltering summer Struggle?! Who will take home the grand prize? The summa cum laude of Struggle: the Five Crystal Trophy! AND…a chance to take on our defending champion, possibly even in a two-on-one match, Setzer! It won't be long now, folks, so let's let our challengers make some final preparations and get this show on the road!"

While Xion was a bit flattered that Biggs would include her in his introduction like that, and say such kind things about her and Roxas, she still noticed how Roxas could only look down in sadness after Hayner had locked eyes with him and then turned away. Seeing the taller blonde react that way to her brother made Xion realize that he was probably not going to be too thrilled to speak with her right now either, but she still had hope that the boys could resolve things between them before they ended up taking out their problems with each other in the ring. Sure, Hayner's frustrations could leave him open quite a bit, and that would give Roxas an advantage, but so long as Roxas was still thinking about how upset his friend was over the misunderstanding from yesterday, Xion could not help but worry. She wanted to go over and talk to at least one of them, when she noticed that Seifer, Rai, and Fuu had disappeared at some point after Biggs's introductions were finished.

"Hey, did you guys see what happened to Seifer and the others just now," Xion inquired of Pence and Olette.

Pence just shrugged in response before heading over to the snack bar to see if he could score something at a cheap price, while Olette said, "I think they headed to the back alley. They're not really the type for big crowds, after all."

Xion nodded in thanks and then turned to see Roxas and Hayner stepping over to the bulletin board to see who they were up against in the first rounds of the tournament. Since they were taking some time, Xion figured there would be no harm in at least talking to Seifer and his pals for a bit, so she headed for the back alley. She barely noticed how Vivi was staring at her rather intently, but it was still just enough to know that there was something different about the way he was staring at her, and it was giving her a few chills. When she arrived in the alleyway, she saw Rai and Fuu basically giving Seifer a quick pep talk to help psych him up for his match, indicating that they already knew who he was paired up with for round one, but that quickly came to an end when they noticed her approach.

"Spy," Fuu immediately accused as she moved to stand in front of Seifer.

"So Roxas needs to send his baby sister to figure out a way for him to try and beat Seifer? Well it won't work, y'know," Rai growled.

Xion just rolled her eyes, doing her best to repress the urge to give a more verbal retort to the twos accusations while doing so, and simply said, "Relax, I'm not here for that. I just wanted to wish Seifer good luck in the tournament." When the three gave her weird looks in response to that, Xion explained, "Just because I don't like you guys too much, doesn't mean I can't be a good sport."

The other three studied her for a minute, trying to gauge how genuine she was being, until Seifer stepped forward and said, "How about a little match of our own then?"

"Huh," Xion asked, having not expected that.

"To be honest, I was hoping to face both you and your brother in this tournament, so I was a little upset when I found out you couldn't get in before all the spots were filled. Think of this as my way of getting that wish fulfilled while getting in some practice for my match, and letting you get some Struggle action of your own in for the day," Seifer admitted. "Because let's be honest, if Roxas does get through round one, he'll likely be facing me, and he won't be getting to face off with Setzer if that does happen."

Normally Xion's blood would be boiling at that comment, but she could tell that Seifer was being honest in his wish to have a match with her and Roxas both, so that meant he was trying to psych her out for this impromptu face-off. Even so, she was not going to hold back a retort this time. "Considering how often Roxas has beaten you on his own, I wouldn't be so sure of that," Xion retorted, albeit playfully. "I guess if you really want a sneak preview of how badly it'll go for you I could help you out."

Seifer grinned in response as he readied his bat and said, "Good, 'cause that's the only way I'll accept your wish of good luck." He watched as Xion smirked in return before readying her own bat, but when she dropped into her battle stance, he had to frown a little. "Are you really going with that again?"

"Huh? What do you mean," Xion inquired, not seeing a problem with her current stance.

"You just look like your copying your brother when you use that stance. Don't you have your own to use, or are you just too hard-lined into using the same fighting style as Roxas," Seifer explained.

Xion glanced down at herself in thought, because she knew that Seifer's question was valid. She did always seem to use almost the exact same battle stance as Roxas, but she did not really know why that was. Thinking this over made her recall the dreams she had last night, and how there was a moment when she saw herself fighting with the Keyblade in her left hand instead of her right, but she quickly shook that idea off, and instead just went for something that made a little more sense to her. She stood up straight, hips squared to her opponent, feet apart, and held the Struggle bat at her side, while holding her free arm up in front of her like she was planning to use it to block an incoming strike at any moment.

Her new stance seemed to satisfy Seifer, because he was soon grinning at the sight and dropping into his own battle stance once again, and when Fuu gave the signal, the two went at it. The instant they started, Xion quickly saw a difference in the way she fought. While her brother's style was more about power and muscling through, the new stance that she was using allowed her to be a little quicker and deliver some precise, decisive blows on her opponent. More than once, she managed to evade Seifer's strikes with little movement, such as just leaning side to side, or even just a quick pivot or spin on one foot, placing her directly behind Seifer or at another point where he would leave himself open for her powerful counterattack, and while she did find that her swings and attacks came much more quickly using the one-hand grip on her bat, she did still occasionally use both hands to attack as well. Of course, part of her still felt a little awkward for some reason, but she was more surprised by how quickly she had adapted a new fighting style and stance to really care about that. Normally, it would take a bit longer for someone to adjust to suddenly changing up the way they fought, but Xion seemed to be taking to this new form like a fish to water. It was almost like she had used this fighting style several times before now, but as far as she could remember, her style had always been similar to that of Roxas's strong-handed approach. It actually made her wonder if this had a connection to the "memories" of that other lifetime she and her brother were seeing themselves lead in their dreams, assuming Naminé was telling them the truth about that.

Those thoughts had almost left Xion open on more than one occasion, and did allow Seifer to land a few blows against her, but in the end, the raven haired girl managed to pull through and pull out a clean win against the taller boy. After all, her smaller size meant that she could duck and evade Seifer's attacks a little more easily than most, and it also allowed her to get behind him a lot more easily as well, creating more opportunities for her to turn Seifer's strengths against him. It came as no surprise to her that by the end of it, Seifer was down on the ground with Xion's Struggle bat being held at his neck, but what did come as a surprise was when Seifer actually laughed an honest, good natured laugh afterwards instead of brushing his defeat off as mere luck on her part. Looking over to Rai and Fuu, Xion saw that the two were just as stunned as she was, which meant that they were about to give the very excuse she had been expecting, so that meant that something was definitely up here.

"Good match," Seifer congratulated, pulling Xion's attention back to him. "Now I'm really disappointed that you weren't able to get into the tournament too."

Sensing the honesty in his words, Xion eventually smiled in return, lowered her bat and then offered Seifer a hand up. The taller boy did not accept it, unsurprisingly, but he did not cease being a good sport about his loss either, much to Xion's relief. "Well, here's hoping that it'll make sure you get through your first match in the tournament, because you've still gotta deal with Roxas afterwards, or Hayner if he wins," Xion cautioned.

"Trust me, there's not a doubt in my mind that your brother will be advancing to the next round," Seifer promised, and Xion knew that he was getting in a quick dig at Hayner when he said that, so any strangeness she was feeling from the taller boy's sudden show of good sportsmanship was now gone. Still, she was not expecting Seifer's last comment when she turned to return to the Sandlot, hoping that she had not missed too much of her brother and Hayner's match. "Let's have a real Struggle match sometime soon…Xion."

The surprising part was that Seifer had actually referred to her by her name. Normally, he would have called her pipsqueak like he had yesterday, so Xion was completely caught off guard when she heard him refer to her by name, but she appreciated it nonetheless. It really showed that even someone who was as big of a bully as Seifer could show some form of kindness once in a while. That did not mean she was going to change her opinion about bullies in general anytime soon, or that she and Seifer were suddenly going to become good buddies though, because she knew that tomorrow, or even in just a few moments, it would be back to business as usual between them.

* * *

Xion made it back to the Sandlot just when Roxas and Hayner's match was about halfway over, and from the way the two were battling it out, the raven haired girl immediately knew that they had made finally up over what had happened yesterday. Roxas was giving it his all, and grinning the whole time he fought, and Hayner had a matching grin on his face, despite the fact that he was clearly behind in points. You see, the way official Struggle matches worked was that you did not necessarily need to knock out your opponent, even though it was similar to a sword battle. Each player wore a special belt that contained several compressed, colored orbs, and a certain number of orbs would be ejected from the player's belt every time their opponent landed a successful strike. Every time a player had an opening, they would then need to grab the orbs that were dropped, and store them into their own belt, without losing any of their own orbs. The object of Struggle was to secure the most orbs or collect a total of 200 orbs before time ran out, and so far, Roxas was holding a solid lead over Hayner.

Another few strikes saw Hayner losing several more orbs from his belt, and Roxas easily gathered up a good number of them by diving to the side and then rolling to his feet again as he scooped several up, sliding them into his own belt as he went. Xion could tell that Hayner was about to retaliate, but to her surprise, Roxas did not seem to move from where he was standing all that much, at least not to do anymore than step back a little to keep clear of Hayner's incoming strikes. When the buzzer suddenly sounded, Xion realized why: Roxas had saw that there was little time left on the clock, and was just waiting it out. At the sound of the buzzer, everyone checked the scoreboard that was set up on the tallest tower in the Sandlot, and which was linked to the belts that the players wore, and quickly started cheering Roxas's name when they saw that he had won.

"And the winner is Roxas," Biggs announced, making it official as he stepped into the ring to lift Roxas's arm up in show of victory, while Hayner just dropped down to the ground in defeat. "Not even friendship will slow this kid down, and Hayner put up a great fight, too."

Roxas waved to the crowd in thanks for a few minutes before he rushed over to help Hayner up. Xion could not really hear what the two were saying to each other over the noise of the crowd, but from the smiles on their faces and the way they were playfully horsing around, it was obvious that they were both being great sports about it. That did not keep a frown off of Hayner's face as Seifer pushed past him on his way into the center of the ring, or Roxas from jumping in surprise a little when he noticed that Vivi had just appeared next to him, seemingly from out of nowhere, but the two did make their way off the stage and over to Xion and the others so that they could watch the next match. When she saw the two boys coming over, Xion immediately gave her brother a congratulatory hug for his victory before she slowly approached said brother's best friend.

"Listen Hayner, about yesterday…I'm really sorry," Xion said.

"What? You too? Like I told your brother, don't worry about it," Hayner reassured her. "Guess not knowing how to let stuff go runs in the family or something, or is it just that you've got a lot on your mind like Roxas?"

"Maybe a little of both," Xion joked in response, a small smile on her face.

Hayner looked a little sheepish at that, and then said, "Sorry, Xi." His brows then furrowed a little before he shot Xion a playful smile as he then remarked, "Wait, what am I sorry for?"

"Maybe for being a boneheaded hothead," Xion joked in response, grinning a little wider when Hayner chuckled at said joke.

Hayner then glanced over to Roxas before leaning closer to Xion, one hand cupping his mouth as he whispered, "Besides, Olette told me about that mission you and Roxas were on yesterday after we all left. That girl he fell for…is she really as cute as Olette says you made her sound?"

Xion adopted a thoughtful expression for a minute, though it was easy to see that it was not serious, before she finally said, "Yeah, she is, but Roxas would probably tell you that she's even cuter."

"You know I can hear you both, right," Roxas pointedly interrupted, but the only thing he managed to do was get the two laughing at his expense. It did not stop him from eventually joining in on said laughter along with Olette and Pence, though.

The five friends eventually ceased laughing so that they could watch the match between Seifer and Vivi, but for some reason, Roxas and Xion felt that the shorter kid was more interested in watching the two of them than he was the match. Not only that, but the way Vivi was staring at them was giving them more than a few chills. Thankfully, a quick comment from Seifer seemed to pull Vivi's attention back onto the match, and like that, the two were off and running the minute that Biggs and the event sponsor gave the starting signal. "Whew, just look at those sparks fly," Biggs commented over the loudspeaker. "I guess Seifer didn't expect to fight one of his own boys."

Apparently, that was not the only thing that Seifer or anyone else was expecting, because Vivi suddenly started showing a very unbelievable amount of skill and talent in his fighting abilities. The little guy was moving so fast that he was almost a blur, and his strikes seemed to pack quite a punch to them, as Seifer was losing a very decent number of orbs every time Vivi landed a blow. Seifer was not letting that get him down though, as he managed to retrieve a good number of his orbs before Vivi could get them all, so it was still proving to be a close match. All the same, after the practice match that she had with him, Xion had been expecting Seifer to be doing better in holding his own against Vivi. That was not to say that she thought she had helped Seifer be ready for fighting against someone shorter than him, considering that Vivi was much smaller in comparison to her, but as Biggs had just said, Vivi was part of Seifer's gang, so he should have known Vivi's fighting style really well. If that was the case, then why did it look like Seifer was having a hard time predicting Vivi's moves, or even getting past the little guy's defenses? There was something really weird going on here, and Xion was not the only one to notice, either.

"When did Vivi get so tough," Hayner asked, his voice both amazed and suspicious at the same time.

"Not sure," Xion muttered, while Roxas just shrugged in response, but from the way his eyes were narrowed, Xion knew that he was just as suspicious about this as she was. That look in his eyes was a lot more intense than the one he normally had if he was studying his next opponent.

As the match continued, Vivi and Seifer managed to keep their orb count from dipping too much lower than the other's, and it eventually got to the point where Seifer would just need to grab one orb from Vivi in order to win. Seifer must have realized this as well, because he quickly went on the defensive until he spotted a chance to land a quick hit, and when he did, Vivi was sent flying back, while a single orb was ejected from his belt. Despite knowing that the current orb count would cause them to go into overtime, Seifer immediately dived for the orb that Vivi had dropped, but in doing so, he had left himself wide open, and both siblings saw it right away.

"Seifer no! Don't let your guard down," Xion shouted in warning, but it was too little, too late. Right when Seifer was about to grab the orb, Vivi suddenly appeared in front of him from out of nowhere, and then retrieved his dropped orb and slamming a final hit on Seifer that caused the disciplinary committee leader to lose several orbs all it once at a speed that was almost unnatural, leading the crowd to go silent in shock as the buzzer sounded.

"I-I'm not sure what just happened…Um…but…the winner is Vivi in a positively blistering comeback," Biggs finally announced, sounding just as confused as everyone else. The announcement did serve to get the cheers going again, but Vivi just walked off like he had not done something completely unbelievable, while Seifer slowly sat up to glare after his smallest friend.

"Well…that happened," Roxas muttered, not really sure what to make of what they had just seen either. Xion could only silently nod in response, feeling just as uncertain as her brother, while their friends could only stare after Vivi in disbelief, until Seifer's voice suddenly caught their attention.

"That's not Vivi," the taller blonde informed Roxas, much to his confusion. Seifer offered up no further explanation though, as he simply just walked off with Rai and Fuu as he made a simple request for Roxas. "Thrash 'im."

Roxas just narrowed his eyes at Seifer's back, almost unable to believe that Seifer would make such a request, but given what had just happened, he could not really blame Seifer. Something about the way Vivi was fighting just now was not normal, and while he did not want to outright accuse the little guy of cheating, Roxas also knew that Seifer would not have said something like that unless the taller boy had the same suspicions. Even on the few occasions when Rai or Fuu did or said something that embarrassed him, Seifer would not have gone so far as to wish bodily harm to them. At worst, he would probably just play a small prank on them or make them do an extra patrol of the city and then let bygones be bygones. There was definitely something going on here, and Roxas was going to have to get to the bottom of it, most likely in his next match. Xion knew this as well, but she was hoping that they could figure out what it was before then. Sadly, that option ended up being taken off the table really quickly.

Moments after Seifer, Rai, and Fuu had left, the tournament sponsor came over to their group and informed Hayner, "It looks like Seifer's withdrawn from the Struggle for third place."

"So I'm in third now? Aw, baby," Hayner cheered excitedly.

Hearing that exclamation, Xion had to at least put on a small smile as she jokingly remarked, "But you still wish that you had a chance to show up Seifer in a match, right?"

Hayner shrugged with shameless smile, proving that she was right, but Roxas knew that Xion's joke was just a way for her to cover up the concern she felt for what he was about to get into when his next match started. Honestly, he was just as worried as his sister, but Roxas knew that he had little choice at this point, so he gave her a small smile of confidence in an attempt to reassure her that he would be all right. Xion saw this and nodded in reply, but Roxas did not really believe that she was no longer worried for him. After all, given what had been going on around the two of them these past few days, he was still pretty worried about what may or may not happen in the next match himself.

* * *

Roxas had more of a chance to think things over before his match with Vivi, as the sponsor insisted that they take a short break to ensure both combatants were properly rested up. Vivi had never been that good of a fighter, before or after he started training with Seifer's gang, and while there was no question that he did put in the work for whatever regiment he set for himself, the chances of Vivi suddenly becoming that good were just way too slim, even if this were one of the various fictional stories or series that he and Xion both liked. Sure, Seifer had let his guard down when he went for that last orb in their match, but there was just no way that Vivi could have recovered and then retaliated like that so quickly. It was just simply impossible, and yet, it happened. Roxas ended up spending the entire break talking over various different theories with Xion, but neither of them could come up with any solid conclusion as to how this could have happened. At least, not in the realm of logical reasoning, but then again, there was a very distinct lack of logic surrounding the two siblings lately.

Neither of them wanted to admit it, but given how sure Xion seemed to be about all of this, Roxas knew that they could not deny that this might be related to their weird dreams, the strange, silver creatures, and their encounter with Naminé yesterday. Although, Roxas was also certain that Naminé had nothing to do with this, but still, it did not rule out any connections to the other weird stuff that had happened to the two of them lately, and Xion had a really bad feeling about what it could likely lead them into when the dust had settled. Even so, there was not really anything that either of them could do about it right now, because there was just no way anyone would believe any accusation they could throw at Vivi without some solid proof, something that they were definitely lacking. Whatever the case may have been, they were just going to have to keep their eyes open for more weird stuff, and the only time they would see any of it would, unfortunately, be during the match, much to Xion's dismay.

Xion did not doubt her brother's ability to win the match, despite whatever new abilities and strange skills Vivi may or may not possess, but given how weird things had been lately, and how often it had led them into a confrontation with those silver creatures, she was very worried about what may likely happen to her brother when the signal to begin the Struggle was given. Roxas must have seen this in her eyes, because he had made it a priority to give her as much reassurance as he could before taking his place in the arena, despite his own nervousness. Sure, it was just as much for him as it was for her, but at the moment, it was of little concern since the match was due to start at any moment, and Roxas had to keep his mind cleared of any distractions or worries if he was going to win, despite whatever tricks Vivi may or may not pull on him.

"And now, the match you've been waiting for: Roxas vs. Vivi," Biggs announced, earning loud cheers from everyone other than Xion, who could only look on in worry as she prayed for her brother's safety.

There was not anything out of the ordinary at first after the start signal was given, but Roxas still opted to play it safe and wait for anything unnatural to happen, be it from Vivi or something else. Meanwhile, Vivi just jumped, spun, and cartwheeled all over the arena before he finally dashed forward and swung at the blonde. Thankfully, Roxas was able to roll aside, avoiding the hit, and he easily retaliated with a few swings of his own, forcing Vivi to drop several orbs that he instantly scooped up as fast as he could. Apparently Vivi did not care too much for Roxas's current strategy, and that was when things started getting a little freaky again. In order to make sure that Vivi could not retrieve any of the orbs that he lost, Roxas had immediately backpedaled away from the shorter kid, placing some distance between them, only to have to dive to one side as Vivi's bat suddenly grew longer and larger, right when Vivi had swung at him. Luckily, Roxas was not hurt, but when he looked back, he saw Vivi's bat was still at an extended length, and even as Vivi spun towards him, Roxas could swear that he saw the bat extending even further, forcing him to roll, duck, and dodge any way that he could in order to avoid getting hit by said bat.

When Xion saw this, she could hardly believe her eyes. There was no way that Vivi's bat was a normal one, even if it was handed to him by the tournament sponsor. Normally, her first hunch would be that Seifer had rigged the bats somehow, but given his comment after his own match with Vivi, she highly doubted that was the case. Still, as she watched Vivi continue to change and expand the bat in various different ways, often times leading him to gain several of Roxas's orbs, Xion was convinced that there was some serious foul play at work here. What she could not understand was how the crowd could still be cheering like they were at the sight of what was unfolding before them, especially in the case of everyone who was cheering on Vivi. Did they not see what he was doing right now? Did they not care that her brother could get seriously hurt by Vivi if his bat kept changing like that? Xion did not know, but there was definitely something wrong, and she was not going to keep quiet about it.

"Hey, come on, ref! What're you, blind?! Vivi's obviously cheating," Xion shouted as loudly as she could, but it did not seem like the referee could hear her. Her friends on the other hand could, but their reactions were nothing more than a bunch of confused gazes.

"What're you talking about, Xion," Hayner asked.

"You're kidding right," Xion questioned in disbelief. "Just look! He's obviously doing something to his bat that's making it get bigger, longer, or both when he attacks Roxas!"

Pence glance between the girl and where Vivi was, right at a moment when Vivi's bat had changed once again, until he finally said, "Look, I know Vivi's clearly gotten better, but that's no reason to make up stories."

"I'm not making anything up! It's happening right now, as plain as the nose on my face," Xion insisted, her arms waving at Vivi's bat as it continued changing while the small kid spun and dashed around at a pace that was not natural for anyone. "How can you not see that?"

"Well sure, we can barely keep up with Vivi's movements, but none of us are seeing his bat change," Olette informed her. "I know you want your brother to win, but accusing his opponent of cheating is not the way to do it."

"But I'm not…How can you…What is…" Xion stuttered, unable to comprehend what she was hearing. Why were her own friends denying what was right in front of their eyes? Then again, they also did not see Riku, or who she believed to be Riku, help Roxas up at the station the other day too, even though she and Roxas both saw him clear as day. Could something similar to that be going on right now, too? If that was the case, then Roxas was in more trouble than he had realized going into this match, and Xion was now doing everything she could to keep herself from jumping into the ring. She knew that doing so while the match was going on would likely get Roxas disqualified, especially if no one else could see what Vivi was doing, so she had no choice but to wait and hope that Roxas would find a way out of this.

Roxas was not about to let his sister down, and he proved it by finding a way around Vivi's little tricks. He made it a point to avoid the bat as much as he could, while getting closer to the shorter kid. Once he was within striking distance, he let loose, and delivered every single blow he could to Vivi, making the shorter kid drop several orbs that the blonde quickly retrieved and stored into his belt, while making note of how Vivi's bat had snapped back to its regular size when he was hit. At that point, Roxas knew that Vivi could not maintain his bat's altered size and length while he was under attack, or while his opponent was too close, and that gave Roxas the opening he needed as he charged once more. He made sure to stay as close to Vivi as he could for as long as possible, until he saw the bat extend once more and then jumped back. After avoiding a few more swings from the oversized Struggle weapon, Roxas got in close again and attacked, making Vivi's bat return to normal again, and earning him more than enough orbs to win the match regardless of anything Vivi could try at that point.

Glancing to the clock, the two siblings saw that they were winding down to the last few seconds, and Roxas determined to deliver one last blow just to emphasize the point on how cheap tricks would not be enough to beat him. Just when he was about to charge though, the air around him seemed to distort in an odd way, and when she glanced at her surroundings, Xion could see that the same thing was happening in her vicinity as well. When things finally settled down, the two realized that everyone in the Sandlot had been frozen in place like statues, much like people had been yesterday when Naminé had shown up, and Xion really hoped that this was a sign that said blonde was coming to pay a visit to them again. Roxas held the same hope as his sister, though for a few additional reasons that he would not admit aloud, but his wishes were quickly dashed when noticed that, while he was just standing in one spot, Vivi was not frozen like everyone else. A minute later, the shorter kid suddenly began glowing with a bright light, until he grew taller and became replaced with another strange silver creature like the photo thief and the ones that he and Xion had dealt with yesterday.

"Again," Roxas shouted in disbelief as several more of the creatures began dropping down from thin air around him.

"Well, you gotta give these guys points for perseverance if nothing else," Xion muttered, as she finally jumped up into the arena, ready to stand by her brother's side, even as more silver creatures appeared to chase after her.

Before he could comment on his sister's remark, a flash of light from the corner of his eye caught Roxas's attention, and he saw that his bat had once again become replaced by the Keyblade, while another, identical Keyblade appeared in Xion's hand as well. "And this thing's back again, too…" Roxas muttered.

"You complaining," Xion asked as she adopted her default battle stance, feeling that it would be better to use something she was used to as opposed to the new style she had just used against Seifer a little while ago.

Roxas glanced between the creatures, his sister, and the Keyblade in his hand for a few seconds before he followed Xion's lead, and replied, "Nope. At least not right now."

With the Keyblades in hand and their resolves steeled, Roxas and Xion instantly went to work getting rid of the silver creatures that dared to appear before them again, interrupting what should have been a fun day of a huge, friendly competition. Unlike the last few times though, the two knew exactly what to expect from these things, and were able to take them all down quite easily, with Xion not even needing to use magic unless she wanted to use it. Then again, considering how these things appeared to be responsible for whatever happened to Vivi that desire was very much present, so she had no problem with blasting several of these things over and over again with the ice spell that she had now seemed to be able to perform without any trouble. It was impressive, as was Roxas's skills with the Keyblade, and it also served to make the fight that much shorter in the end. Sadly, it did not look like setting things back to normal was going to be that simple this time.

When she cut down the last of these strange beings, Xion quickly stood up straight again, thinking that was that, but after glancing around, she saw that was not the case. Everyone was still frozen where they stood, and there was now no sign of Vivi at all. Roxas had taken notice of this too, and was ready to suggest that Xion try resuming her original place in the crowd or that they look around for any other weird thing that should not have been here right now, until they heard a single person clapping. The siblings immediately spun around and found themselves faced with a tall, thin-looking man in a black coat, just like the ones they had been seeing in their dreams and that the pickpocket wore, but when he spoke, they both silently gasped in recognition of the voice. It was the same voice of the mystery person from their dreams last night.

"Bravo Roxas. Brava Xion. All right. Fight, fight, fight," the stranger playfully cheered before he stopped clapping and started moving towards them. Neither of them really gave him much acknowledgement beyond confused, yet guarded looks, and Roxas slowly moving to stand between this man and his sister, and seeing this seemed to bring the stranger up short. "You really don't remember? It's me. You know," the stranger explained as he pulled back his hood to reveal a head of spiky red hair that was slicked back to show it reached his shoulders, and purple reverse-teardrop shaped markings under each of his green eyes along with his name. "Axel."

"Axel," Roxas and Xion both questioned, before they glanced at each other to see if the other could recall anything about someone by that name. Just because he sounded and looked a lot like the person from their dreams, did not mean that he was in fact the same guy.

When he saw the unsure looks on the two's faces, Axel could only sigh, "Talk about blank with a capital 'B.'" He then flexed his hands a little, conjuring up a pair of revolving flames from his palms, until the flames died down and revealed a pair of red and silver chakrams, just like the one that the two had seen in their dreams. "Man oh man, even the Dusks aren't gonna crack this one."

"Wait a sec, tell us what's going on," Roxas demanded as he came to stand well between Axel and Xion, ready to hold the Keyblade up in defense if he had to from the minute he saw the tall redhead summon his own weapons.

"This town is his creation, right? Which means we don't have time for a Q&A," was the only reply that Axel gave as he swung his chakrams round until he was standing in a loose ready position. "You two are coming with me, conscious or not. Then you'll hear the story."

Hearing the redhead say that, Xion's mind immediately went to something she had heard in her dream last night, and she almost immediately repeated it out loud. "'Go on, you just keep running. But I'll always be there to bring you back.' That was you! You were the one who said that to me, right," Xion asked Axel.

That made Axel freeze up a little, before he straightened up and admitted, "Yeah, I said that, and I meant it too. Guess you remember a little more than you've let on, huh? But I guess I shouldn't be surprised, given how you came to be, Xion."

"What're you talking about," Roxas asked. "Xion was born just like me and anyone else. There was nothing different about it."

"Actually Roxas, that's where you're wrong. It was different. Not that you seem to remember, but it doesn't really matter either way," Axel informed him.

"That's a lie! You know something about my sister, and that life we supposedly lived before we were here in Twilight Town, or maybe you forgot that best friends are supposed to be honest with each other," Roxas snapped, inadvertently admitting that he remembered a little more than he had let on as well.

Now Axel's eyes were widening in shock, before he sighed and said, "Well, this is certainly bringing on a bit of déjà vu, but like I said, we don't have time to rehash the past or old arguments."

"Then make time," Roxas snarled. He was not sure what he would do if Axel refused, but he did still remember the last thing he saw in last night's dream about how he apparently could not trust Axel. Whether that was still true or not, he did not really know, but he did know that Xion seemed to think this guy had some answers, so they should at least try and squeeze a little bit of information out of him while they had the chance.

Apparently, that chance was much more fleeting than they realized, because a moment later, the air around them seemed to become distorted again, making Axel jump a little as a worried look spread over his face. When things settled again, nothing had changed, and Roxas was now definitely fed up with every strange or bizarre thing that was happening around him and his sister. "What's going ON," Roxas demanded as he tossed the Keyblade down on the ground, watching it bounce away from him afterwards.

Xion was about to scold her brother for treating the Keyblade that way, when it suddenly vanished and then reappeared in Roxas's hand once again. The two were so surprised by this that they almost missed Axel's next comment. "Number XIII, Roxas, and Number XIV, Xion. The Keyblade's chosen ones. Although I gotta admit, I kinda miss your real Keyblade over that copy your holding, Xion. Makes me wonder if Roxas is using his real one right now, or at any time back in the old days."

Xion was now very confused. Sure, she remembered from her dreams that the Keyblade was supposed to be different for each person, but did this guy really see what her actual Keyblade was supposed to be, and why was he saying that her current one was just a copy? Did it have anything to do with the connection Naminé said the dark haired girl and her brother had with Sora? Glancing down at the Keyblade in her hand, Xion saw the blade flash a little while it vibrated in her hand, like something was trying to force its way out of the blade, and while it quickly passed, Xion could still somehow sense that was exactly the case. The only question she had now was, just what was trying to come out? Glancing over to Roxas, Xion could see it gain a faint, white aura of its own, indicating that the same thing was happening to her brother's blade, but it did not quite answer the question. Eventually, she saw Roxas reach his own conclusion, as he leveled one last angry glare at Axel.

"Okay, fine! You asked for it," Roxas shouted at Axel, dropping into his battle stance once more, ready to meet the redhead in combat.

Xion was a bit more hesitant than her brother, but all the same, she did fall into her own stance as well, this time going with the new one she had just used against Seifer, and declared, "Don't think we're going to be holding anything back, either."

Her remark earned a small grin from Axel, as he cheered, "That's more like it! Almost just like old times now, isn't it?"

Not another word was said after that, as Axel suddenly rushed the two, swinging one of his chakrams at them. The two were able to dodge his first strike, but using the momentum of his swing, Axel was able to spin around and then tossed the other chakram at Roxas. The blonde managed to deflect the spiked, weapon with his Keyblade just before it could hit him, and since Axel's attention was on him, Roxas could only smirk as he watched Xion try to rush the redhead from behind. Axel saw it coming though, and easily sidestepped Xion's sneak attack before attempting to retaliate with his recently retrieved chakram, but Xion managed to duck under the swing and then unleashed an ice spell at point blank range, blasting the redhead back. The magic attack did not really seem to faze him too much, because Axel managed to shake it off, and then engulfed his chakrams in fire before tossing them at the siblings. The two easily dodged the flaming weapons by jumping to the side, but then, they watched as they came back around to hit them again. Thankfully, Xion was able to get her Keyblade up in time to block the chakram heading for her, but Roxas was not so lucky, and got a bit singed as a result. When the chakrams returned to his hands again, Axel dived towards the blonde sibling, ready to deliver a finishing blow, but a sudden blast of ice in his path made him halt his charge, and another one soon followed after, making him back up to avoid getting hit.

Looking to the source of the ice blasts, Axel quickly spotted Xion preparing to fire off another one of said spells, and he just had to comment on the folly of this strategy. "Really? You want to use ice against a guy who's nicknamed the Flurry of Dancing Flames," Axel questioned. "Granted, it did stop me earlier, and that first one did sting a little, but any ice you throw at me is just going to melt before it can do any damage."

Xion quirked an eyebrow at this, wondering why Axel would tell her that. It was not normal for an enemy to be giving you pointers on how to beat them after all, but then again, it could have just been Axel mindlessly boasting about how he was so much stronger than her simple spell, so Xion was able to just shrug it off after a minute. When she did, she fired off another pair of ice spells, making Axel sigh in response as he engulfed his chakrams in flames once again, melting the ice shards before they could harm him. When the spiked weapons returned to his hand though, he found out that Xion was not aiming to hit him with her spells, but merely to distract him long enough for her to get in close, and he only discovered this after Xion had appeared before him and landed a solid hit across his front with her Keyblade. Axel was now playing a bit more defensively, as Xion was giving everything she had in a full-frontal attack, but the minute he saw an opening to retaliate, he took it, only to miss as Xion spun away from the attack. He fully expected the girl to either hit him from his side or behind, but in his haste to stop such a move, Axel had left himself open to when Roxas rushed in and landed his own set of strikes on his front.

Axel was sent rolling across the ground as a result of Roxas's last combo of strikes, but he managed to end upright once again, albeit down on one knee when he straightened, indicating that the two were in fact delivering a bit of injury onto him. "Not bad, Roxas. Probably should've seen that coming, given how good of a team you and Xion have always been," Axel admitted as he started to stand again. Slowly, but standing all the same, and ready for another round. It never came, as a sudden flash from the other end of the arena brought the appearance of a strangely dressed, masked man, who was glaring viciously at Axel the minute he had fully materialized. Given the way that Axel was glaring back at the man, Roxas and Xion were able to easily guess that he was not a friend of the redhead's, and the way he snarled at the masked man only reinforced that. "So it was you," Axel growled. "Always getting in someone else's way, no matter which side they may be on."

A minute later, the two watched Axel jump back, engulf his chakrams in an even thicker blaze of flames than any of the ones he had used before, and then throw them at the masked man as hard as he could. What came as surprising though, was when the two enflamed weapons bounced harmlessly off an invisible shield while the man did not even so much as blink in response. He then turned towards the siblings, and called out in a deep voice, "Roxas, Xion, this man speaks nonsense!"

"Roxas, Xion, don't let him deceive you," Axel cried out, pulling the two's attention back onto him. "I know we didn't part on the best of terms when we last met, but…"

"Roxas! Xion," the masked man shouted. "Do not believe what he may claim! He is your enemy!"

"No I'm not," Axel angrily shouted in retort. "You guys know I'm not!"

The next thing either sibling knew, they were looking back and forth between the two strange men, unsure looks on their faces as they questioned who to believe. It got to be too much for Xion before it did Roxas, because it seemed like only a matter of seconds before she fell to her knees with her head in hands as she tried to block the two out in order to calm the headache that was now forming. Roxas was soon right behind her, only with his hands covering his ears as he tried calling out to their friends, all while the world seemed to distort around them again, until finally, Xion had enough, and shouted, "JUST SHUT UP ALREADY!"

With her cry of distress, came a blast of both ice and fire magic from Xion's hands, right after she had spread her arms out so that they were pointed to the men on either side of her and her brother. The ice magic immediately struck Axel dead center, while the fireball that had erupted from her other palm hit the invisible barrier of the stranger, only this time, his eyes widened in response. Roxas was also gaping at his sister, but he remained silent while the stranger muttered, "Another sign that we should have destroyed this puppet instead of allowing it to live. It's suddenly grown more powerful already, and at this rate, it will only be a matter of time before it endangers us all."

That broke Roxas from his silence as he turned to glare at the man and shouted, "She's not an 'it', and if you call her that again, I'll tear you apart!"

"You'll have to get in line, buddy," Axel groaned in response, glaring at the masked man all the while. "There are a lot of people who want to see this guy burn."

Xion and Roxas both looked to Axel in confusion before he suddenly vanished, and they were forced to shield their eyes as the whole Sandlot was suddenly enveloped in a massive, bright light. Mere seconds later, their ears were assaulted, not by another shouting match, but instead, by loud cheers from an excited crowd, and they immediately opened their eyes to see what was going on. Upon doing so, Xion saw that she was now back in the audience with their friends, while Roxas was still in the ring with his bat in hand, watching as Vivi fell to the floor, face-first, and the crowd merely continued cheering. Apparently, Biggs was as confused as to what had happened as the siblings were, as his next comment proved, but Vivi looked to be the most confused of all as he stood up straight and glanced at his surroundings.

"Huh," Vivi muttered once he was on his feet. "How did I get here?"

Roxas and Xion could only watch in disbelief as Vivi just shrugged and then walked off, clearly no longer caring about what had happened in the match, while Hayner and Pence jumped up into the ring so that they could congratulate Roxas. "Xion, come on! Your brother just won," Olette urged the dark haired girl before she followed the two boys.

Xion could only reply with a mute nod as she slowly followed after her friends as they crowded around Roxas. When she was close enough, she exchanged a brief look with Roxas, and like that, despite any joy that Roxas felt at hearing Biggs declare him the new top Struggler, they both knew that their questions had only increased just now. More than that, they also realized that they were both now determined to get to the bottom of every last mystery that was now appearing in their life, no matter what happened.

* * *

Compared to the drama and oddities that they had dealt with in the last match, the final face-off of the tournament with Setzer was nothing too special. As promised, Roxas took the option to make the match two-on-one, with Xion as his partner, much to her relief and the crowd's excitement, and when Setzer tried to bribe them into letting him win, the two found themselves with a very good reason to knock Setzer down a few pegs. Of course, part of their ferocity was also because they needed to vent their newest frustrations at the weirdness that had been unfolding in their lives, but they were still pretty upset that Setzer thought he could keep his title as champion through that kind of trickery. When the match had come to an end, the two had quickly learned that even if it was a standard one-on-one Struggle, either of them could have handled Setzer, because he had proven to be a very easy opponent to beat. It was so laughable at how easily they owned him that they had to wonder just how Setzer had become the champion in the first place, but that was nothing compared to the cheering of both the crowd and their friends when they had achieved victory.

When the tournament sponsor presented the championship belt to them, Xion only looked at it for a minute before making a big decision. "Roxas, you take it," she insisted. When she saw the telltale signs of her brother protesting, Xion added, "I wouldn't have even had a chance to participate in this tournament if you hadn't gotten all the way through to the final, and besides, in my book, you've always been the greatest champion of all. You deserve it."

Roxas knew when he was not going to win in an argument with his sister, so he elected to simply smile in thanks and accepted the belt. After staring at it for a moment, he looked to Xion and said, "You're a big part of the reason as to why I'm so good you know, Sis. Even if the final match wasn't set up the way it had been, you would've still been right there with me, having my back all the way through."

Hearing her brother say that brought a happy grin to Xion's face, and she quickly showed her thanks by giving her brother the biggest hug she could manage before stepping back and allowing him to lift the belt above his head as a show of victory. Of course, she did not stop there, as she was the one who went on to lead the crowd in cheering her brother's name over and over in further celebration of his new status as the Struggle champion of Twilight Town. Needless to say, both twins were all smiles for the rest of the day, even as they met up with Hayner, Pence, and Olette on top of the clock tower, with the Five Crystal Trophy being carried up by Xion. Roxas had insisted that if he deserved to take the belt, then she deserved the main trophy at the very least, if for no other reason than to show how happy he was to have her as the "best sister ever".

Now away from the excited cheering of the crowd and in the comforting quiet of the perch atop the clock tower as they all watched the Twilight Town sunset, the five friends could only sigh in happy contentment as they finally managed to calm down from the day's events. The silence was not broken by any of them until Xion began to pluck off each crystal from the trophy before having Roxas pass them out amongst their group. Olette getting yellow one, Hayner easily catching the red when Roxas tossed it over to him, Pence just managing to catch the green, and Roxas easily taking blue while Xion took the clear silver one for herself. "As promised," Xion stated as she set the main trophy aside while holding up her crystal so that the sun could shine through it, with Roxas doing the same.

"Thanks a ton, you guys," Pence cheered as he followed the two's lead.

"One more treasure for us to share," Hayner grinned in response while he and Olette did the same as the rest of their friends.

A minute later, Olette set her crystal down and produced five stick of sea-salt ice cream as she announced, "I've got a present, too, for all of us."

"All right," Roxas cheered as he jumped to his feet after he had pocketed his blue crystal. His excitement was a little too hasty though, as Roxas suddenly slipped on the ledge and began to lose his balance. When he finally tipped over, it was in the wrong direction, and the other four could only watch in horror as Roxas started to fall over the side.

"ROXAS," Xion cried out as she dived to catch her brother's hand before he fell too far. She did manage to grab his arm, but a minute later, a sudden, sharp pain entered her head, and she felt her grip weakening as she too started to slip, being pulled down by Roxas's weight. The next thing either twin could register was a sudden sense of falling as everything suddenly went dark, while a strange, yet familiar presence seemed to suddenly come into their minds.

* * *

Far away from the hustle and bustle of Twilight Town, and nestled in a nice, quiet little corner of interspace, one would find that twilight had started to fall on another, very peaceful world, where so many people were fated to meet and where one particular adventure had begun at least a year ago: Destiny Islands. After all the events that came from dealing with the Heartless, the island world had been restored to its wondrous, peaceful glory, though most of its inhabitants had seemed to have lost all memory of the islands ever falling into even the tiniest bit of danger, let alone the world being destroyed entirely because of the Heartless. The select few who did remember what happened had come to feel that it was probably better that way, because if everyone on the islands did remember what had happened, it would have been impossible for their world to really continue on in the peace that they had held before. Sure, those few were a bit saddened by what had followed those events, but they were able to find a way to press on with their lives regardless. It may have been hard, and there may have been times when they could not get through the day, but they still managed. What came as surprising was that one particular member of their small group was able to handle it better than all the rest of them, and she had been caught up in the storm of that adventure the most. That same girl, now having grown into quite a beautiful young woman, at the age of fifteen no less, was actually just heading on her way home from another day of school.

"Kairi! Wait up," a voice called out to the auburn haired girl.

Turning around, Kairi immediately smiled at the sight of her friend, Selphie running to catch up with her. Like Kairi, Selphie was also decked out in the girl's uniform for their school, consisting of a white shirt, sky-blue striped tie and matching skirt, navy knee-high socks, and black shoes, but unlike Kairi, Selphie wore hers in the same standard that everyone else did. Kairi on the other hand, actually stylized her school look as much as she could, namely by rolling her sleeves up and wearing her tie a little more loosely. Of course, that was not what allowed the auburn haired girl to turn so many heads even as she was walking down the street in her school uniform, and Selphie was not the only one to notice it. In the past year, Kairi had physically matured quite a bit, probably more so than any of the rest of their friends, and not just in the sense that she had become taller. Her body had also developed into that of a young woman, and in a way that would drive many men crazy, while her hair had actually turned to a darker shade of red as she grew it out a little more, allowing it to now reach her shoulders. Her bangs now parted to the right as opposed to a year ago when they parted to the left, but that was really more of a minor detail in comparison to everything else about her. If one were to look a little closer, they would also see that she had gained a little more muscle as well, but Kairi had never really explained how that had happened beyond simply saying that it was a benefit of a new workout routine that she had taken on. Either way, the only way anyone could describe the redhead was to say that she was simply gorgeous, and any boy would consider himself lucky if they got her to go on a date with them, but Kairi had refused any and all invites to date for some reason that was unknown to everyone other than Selphie and the rest of their little circle of friends.

As the two turned to continue on their way home, Selphie suddenly surprised her when she asked, "Hey, do you feel like going out to the island?" Kairi knew that Selphie was referring to what everyone referred to as the Play Island, and it was a regular hang-out for them and the rest of their friends, but these days, it was rare for all of them to go out there together. More to the point, Kairi had stopped going altogether quite some time ago for reasons that were largely unknown to everyone. That did not keep Selphie from asking her to tag along though, much like today. "Tidus and Wakka are all wrapped up in their ball game, or to be more accurate, Wakka's trying to keep Tidus focused on said game so that he won't think about…well, Yuna, so they can't go with me."

Kairi nodded a little sadly at that fact. Sure, Tidus had seemed okay about his separation from the girl he had met after the islands had fallen to darkness, but they all knew that he was just trying to appear strong for his friends. In a way, Kairi could relate to him, and that was part of the reason why she had given something close to the same answer to Selphie's offer to go to the island so often before, just as she would this time. "Not today, sorry," Kairi apologized.

"Aw, why not," Selphie whined, finally having had enough of the mystery and desiring a real answer to why Kairi was not going to their favorite hang-out anymore.

Kairi thought her answer over carefully before she finally questioned, "Do you remember those boys who used to hang out with us?"

"You mean Riku," Selphie hesitantly questioned. Everyone in their group was well aware of what Riku had done a year prior, and while some of them had forgiven him for what he had done, especially after Kairi had told him what happened to him by the end of the adventure, they were still a little hesitant to bring him up. It was not exactly easy to forgive the person responsible for destroying your home. When Kairi nodded in affirmative, Selphie reminded Kairi of this fact as she said, "He made it a little hard to forget about him even before everything that had happened. Do you still think he's out there somewhere?"

"No, I know he's out there," Kairi corrected with a smile. "He's far away right now, doing something really important, but I know we'll see him again."

"Sure. Of course we will," Selphie agreed with a smile, being one of the few people who had forgiven Riku the most easily. "I do miss him though."

There was no disagreeing with that, but Riku was not the entire reason why Kairi had brought that question up. "And the other boy," Kairi eventually asked.

"What other boy," Selphie questioned, no longer knowing what Kairi was talking about.

"The one who was with Riku and me all the time," Kairi explained with a fond smile that Selphie could not remember ever seeing on the redhead's face before. "We played together on that island. His voice always used to be there…but now it's gone. I can't think of his face, or his name…I feel awful about it. So I told myself I'm not going to the island until I remember everything about him."

It was a beautiful sentiment to be certain, and it was very clear to Selphie that whoever this person was, he was very important to Kairi in a way that no one else could ever have hoped to be. Even so, Selphie could not figure out who her friend was referring to, and that made her eventually ask, "Are you sure you didn't make him up?"

Kairi resolutely nodded, her smile not fading in the slightest to show just how certain she was, while her violet-blue eyes twinkled in a way that could only exist in the eyes of someone who was thinking of someone they loved. When she saw that twinkle, Selphie realized that Kairi really wasn't imagining things, because that was exactly the case here. Whoever this mystery boy was, Kairi was in love with him, and there was no way that Kairi could have fallen so hard for someone that she had just imagined one day. It was almost enough to make Selphie sigh in awe, and she would have too had Kairi's smile not fallen when she raised a hand to her head with a pained expression, like an intense headache had suddenly struck her. What Selphie did not know, was that Kairi had suddenly heard not one, but two voices in her head that she did not recognize, apparently calling out to her from some unknown location at that very moment.

 _"Naminé,"_ the first voice questioned, this one obviously belonging to a boy. _"Naminé…? What's happening to me?"_

Then came the second voice, this one belonging to a girl, and she sounded a little more distressed than the first. _"Naminé if that's you, then you've gotta help! I don't know if you can, but you have to, please."_

 _"Who are you,"_ Kairi mentally questioned, having become accustomed to speaking through her thoughts after her experience in the previous year. _"And that's not my name. I'm Kairi."_

 _"Kairi,"_ the girl's voice questioned, sounding shocked. _"No way! You're…"_

 _"Yeah, that girl he likes,"_ the boy finished, surprising Kairi a little at what these two clearly knew that.

 _"Who,"_ Kairi asked, hoping that these two could help her fill in the blanks that had somehow formed in her mind. _"Please, a name!"_

 _"I'm Roxas,"_ the boy's voice stated.

 _"And I'm Xion,"_ the girl added.

 _"Okay, Roxas and Xion, but can either of you tell me HIS name,"_ Kairi quickly pleaded, when she received her next answer, it came from neither Roxas or Xion, but from the voice of the very boy she was asking about.

 _"You don't remember my name? Thanks a lot, Kairi,"_ the boy said, his tone joking in a way that Kairi knew to be just like him. After hearing Kairi gasp in shock, the boy then added, _"O-kay, I guess I can give you a hint…Starts with an 'S'."_

With that last statement, all three voices had disappeared from Kairi's mind, leaving her thoughts quiet again aside from her own, and her first thought was the question on when she had suddenly fallen to the ground. Clearly the unexpectedness of that sudden communication with those people had caused her more stress than she thought, and that had resulted in worrying Selphie quite a bit, judging by the look on the other girl's face. Still, nothing could break the good feeling that had now come over Kairi, and once she had reassured Selphie that she was okay, Kairi immediately sprinted towards the beach as fast as she could. When she finally arrived, Kairi allowed the calm, sea breeze to blow through her hair for a few minutes, the water gently lapping against the sand and over her shoes a little, but not to the point where it would actually get into said footwear. The calm setting only served to reaffirm what Kairi already felt in her heart, but she did not get around to actually doing it until after Selphie had finally caught up with her.

Taking a minute to brush her hair back behind one ear, Kairi set her bag down beside her, and then pulled out a bottle with a rolled up parchment inside so that she could set it adrift in the currents of the water. Selphie looked after the bottle curiously, trying to figure out what it was and why Kairi was looking after it so fondly, but was unable to come up with an answer, so she decided it was better to just ask. "What's that?"

"A letter," Kairi replied, her smile from before still shinning on her face. "I wrote it yesterday to the boy I can't remember. I said that no matter where he is…I'll find him. One day. And when I stopped writing, I remembered we made a promise, something important. This letter is where it starts. I know it."

"Wow…I hope he gets it," Selphie whispered, praying for her friend that this boy would receive the letter and the feelings that were embedded into it.

"He will," Kairi guaranteed with a smile. She then returned to watching after the letter as she muttered, "Starts with an 'S.' Right, Sora?" If she had realized that she had said that name at the end, it was hard for anyone to know, because a few minutes later, Kairi's eyes widened in shock as she jumped up and exclaimed, "Oh no! I'm going to be late! Sorry Selphie, but I've really gotta go now!"

"What? Where," Selphie questioned, until something clicked in her mind. "Wait, is it another one of those tutoring sessions you're always disappearing off to?"

"Uh…yeah, pretty much," Kairi confirmed, hoping that her little fib was not too obvious.

Selphie just sighed as she watched Kairi race away, muttering all the while, "I don't know why she thinks she needs to get any tutoring. She's easily one of the smartest kids at school, and could probably lead an entire tutoring session for everyone else if she wanted to. Guess she's just being a bit of an overachiever or something."

Kairi did not stop running until she had finally made it back to her house and up to her room, and once there, she immediately changed out of her school uniform and into her new regular attire. Unlike her old look from a year ago, this new look of hers was certainly a little more feminine, and tended to help her turn even more heads than her school uniform did. Instead of her old slip-on shoes, she now wore lilac sneakers, while the rest of her attire now consisted of a white halter top with a black hood on the back worn beneath a pink, strapless mini-dress with three zippers, two of which were more decorative than anything else. The wrist and armbands that she used to wear were no longer part of her attire, as they had been replaced by a set of three bracelets that she wore on her right wrist, and around her waist, she sported a black belt that was reminiscent of suspenders with a notebook shaped bag attached to the left side. The one thing about her day-to-day outfit that had not changed was her necklace with a silver bead, but the final piece of her attire was also what she considered to be the most important, mainly because of what it represented about her and what she had become last year. Taking the gauntlet out from where she had hidden it in the drawer of nightstand, Kairi watched as the enchanted piece of armor grew a little so that she could easily slide it over her hand and onto her left wrist, and then held it steady as it shrunk down so that it fit perfectly onto her arm just as it did when she first received it a year ago. After checking over her appearance in the mirror, Kairi nodded in satisfaction before she raced out the backdoor to a secluded spot on the main island, where she found a figure in a black coat waiting for her.

"Sorry I'm a little late, but there was something important that I had to take care of," Kairi explained.

The figure turned a little towards Kairi, their face hidden beneath the hood they wore, before they asked in a distinctive, female voice, "What exactly at the beach was so important that you needed to deal with it right away?"

"How did you…" Kairi started to ask, only to stop herself before she finished her sentence. She then smiled a little with a shake of her head and commented, "You know, some people would probably be freaked about their teacher stalking them."

"I'm not just your master at the moment, Kairi; I'm also your guardian. You're more than just a Keyblade wielder after all, so I think my overly cautious approach to protecting you can be forgiven," the woman countered, and even beneath the hood, one could see the playful smile on her face as she spoke in a matching tone of voice. She became serious again when she pointed out, "And you didn't answer my question. What was it that you had to do down at the beach?"

Kairi took a deep breath before she explained, "You know that boy I told you about? The one I couldn't remember? Well, I wrote a letter to him last night telling him about all of my feelings and how I plan to do what I can to help him soon, and I just sent it out to him in the currents."

"I get the feeling there's more to this than just a simple desire for you to send word out to someone you can't quite remember as well as you'd like," Kairi's master noted. "Did you remember something more about him?"

"Not really, but when I stopped writing…I remembered we made an important promise," Kairi answered, her smile growing a little more as she continued, even as she unknowingly finished her statement with something that her master did not expect. "I just know that somehow, he'll get the letter, and even if he doesn't, I'm not going to let Sora go it alone any more than he already has."

Hearing Kairi say that name drew a surprised gasp from her master, and the cloaked woman immediately had to make sure she had not heard wrong. "What did you say," she quickly asked.

"That I wasn't going to let him go it alone any more than he already has," Kairi repeated.

"No, your exact words. You said a name just now," the woman clarified. When Kairi's eyes scrunched up in thought, her master quickly came closer to her as she prompted, "Come on, Kairi! I know you can remember more about him now. The fact that you unintentionally said his name is proof of that. Just look deep inside yourself, look at your Wayfinder if you have to, and pull the memory to the surface."

Kairi did not pull out the charm that her master had mentioned, but she soon found that she did not need to, as she found the very feeling that the cloaked woman was talking about deep inside of her, and that helped her to slowly sound out the very name she unknowingly remembered just moments ago. "S…Sor…Sor-ra…Sora!" Kairi's grin was now wider than it had ever been in so long, while her eyes began to brim with tears a little. "His name's Sora! I can't…I can't believe I actually forgot about him," Kairi cried, one part in happiness, one part in sadness. "How could I have forgotten about Sora?"

"It was not intentional on your part. It was due to the actions that someone else had been forced against their will to take by some very bad people. Be thankful that you can remember him now after all this time," the woman advised, her own voice relieved and happy at the same time. She soon turned serious again when she added, "It also means that we may need to step up your training a little."

"What do you mean," Kairi asked.

"The fact that you've started to remember Sora, even if it's just a little bit, does not just mean that he will be returning to the worlds soon. It also means that a new battle is about to be upon us, and he will need all the help he can get if he's to stop this new threat. That doesn't just stop at his master, but includes all of his friends, including you and me," the woman explained in a foreboding tone of voice that was so certain that it actually sent chills up Kairi's spine. Even the last question that the woman asked seemed to make Kairi a little nervous. "Do you think you can handle all of that?"

Kairi was quiet for a minute, seemingly unsure of whether or not she could, but in the end, she gave a resolute nod in reply as she stated, "Yes. I'm not going to just sit back and wait like I have been for the past year. Sora and Riku need me, and I plan to be ready to help and even fight in any way that I can."

The woman nodded, allowing some strands of blue hair to temporarily slip out from beneath her hood as she did, before she summoned a grey and silver Keyblade with a boxy guard made up of two, small light grey boxes and a copper rod into her hand. "Very well, then," the woman decided. "Let's commence today's training, starting with a sparring match."

Kairi nodded and summoned forth her own, flowery-designed Keyblade, Destiny's Embrace to her hand, assuming the ready position she had steadily developed over the past year with a confident smirk as she met her master's instruction with a small challenge. "Ready any time you are, Master Aqua."

For the rest of that day, one could most easily hear the sounds of two blades clashing against one another, spells flying through the air as they were rapidly cast with the skill of a well-practiced mage, and the faint sound of one person instructing another. All this served as the true indicator of just how hard the master and apprentice would be training to make sure they were prepared for when the next battle finally began.

* * *

 _"Restoration at 79 percent,"_ the computer reported, surprising DiZ a little with the sudden upsurge in progress that had just been made. He was almost beginning to think that maybe it was a good thing that Naminé had contacted Roxas and Xion, since that had inadvertently lead to this result, but only just. He still had no intention of letting Ventus's interference slide, but he was still willing to let his cloaked friend off the hook, given how steadfast his services to him had proven so far. Besides, Ventus was not in the mansion at the moment, so he did not really need to worry about anything the Keyblade master would say or do right now. All the same, what he was seeing was almost too difficult to believe.

"His progress is astounding," DiZ finally commented aloud, listening to the faint sound of the blue and silver crystals landing in his acquaintance's hand as he easily tossed them up a bit before catching them again.

Even though he was just as impressed as DiZ was about this new progress, the man still had to ask the big question, even as he ceased playing with the two crystals he had retrieved from the virtual replica of Twilight Town and slid them into the munny pouch he had swiped from said town. "So what happened?"

"Naminé's encounter with Roxas and Xion put their hearts in contact with Kairi's, and that, in turn, affected Sora," DiZ explained as simply as he could. There was a more in depth explanation that he probably could have given, but he had little doubt that it would have gone over the younger man's head.

It was enough to satisfy the cloaked man's curiosity though, as he quickly switched to a different topic. "Naminé…She's a wonder, probably even more so than Master Ventus would appear to think."

DiZ would have to give Ventus credit on that front, as it was the one thing that they could agree on in regards to the young blonde with such amazing powers. Even if they did think that for different reasons. "She wasn't born like other Nobodies," DiZ noted aloud, continuing the hooded man's observations. "She can interfere with the hearts and memories of Sora and those aligned with him. Though it would seem that certain individuals continue to remain unaffected, such as Master Ventus, or even Master Aqua, but that may be due to the fact that they were both made aware of the events that had transpired in Castle Oblivion. It's hard to really say."

"But still, whose Nobody is Naminé," the hooded man asked.

Now DiZ allowed his own curiosity to come into play, as he answered the question with a request of his own. "I could tell you, but first, perhaps you could tell me your true name?"

The man just stared at DiZ in silence, likely using his own special senses to make sure that he did not have to fear Ventus's sudden return when he made his revealed, and then pulled back the hood to reveal a tan face with amber-orange eyes, and long white hair, as he answered, "It's Ansem."

DiZ stared at the revealed man a bit sadly, clearly seeing something beyond the surface, before he turned away and let out a hollow laugh. When he finally calmed down enough, he looked back and said, "It's an honor, Ansem."

There was nothing more that could be said between them, as there was still more work to be done if they were to bring Sora back in time to help stop the coming evil that was lurking in the worlds, and trying to stop them even now.

* * *

DiZ and Ansem were not the only ones who were doing something to help the worlds, as one would soon find out if they were to wander into a secluded part of the woods just outside of Twilight Town, where Axel appeared from a dark portal with a disgruntled look on his face. "Seriously, why do I always get the icky jobs," Axel grumbled.

"Probably because they think you're so good at them, and in that case, you've only yourself to blame for that," a cheerful sounding voice answered, making Axel turn his attention to the armored for of Master Ventus who had just stepped out from behind a nearby tree.

Axel eventually had to give a light-hearted smile to the Keyblade master as he shrugged and said, "Yeah, I guess you have a point there." His tone turned serious again as he revealed his latest bit of information. "It's about to get really hard if not impossible to maintain my cover any longer. They've just given me the big ultimatum: either bring back both Roxas and Xion, bring back one and destroy the other, or destroy them both if they refuse to return. I tried to fight it as best as I could, but the decision was final, and if I don't, they'll turn me into a Dusk. Kind of makes me wonder if it really was worth it to become a spy for you and the old man."

"I understand how great the risks you've undertaken have been, and we all appreciate it. The same would go for Roxas and Xion if they could still remember and knew of what you were doing," Ventus reassured the redhead. "That being said, I don't think you need to worry about maintaining your cover for much longer. When this is over, Sora will return, and it'll be pointless for the Organization to try and retrieve their youngest members."

"At which point, any ruse that I've been putting up will be blown to bits," Axel finished. "So what do you want me to do at that point?"

"You sure you want to keep going with us? You've already gone through so much in this whole thing as it is, old friend. I can't really ask you to do anymore if you don't think you can handle it, Lea," Ventus questioned.

That earned the master a small eye-roll from Axel as he told him, "Like I've told you before, Ventus, it's not 'Lea' anymore, and if it's to keep my two best friends safe, I'll put it all on the line for them."

Ventus seemed to study the Nobody before him for a minute before he finally nodded and declared, "Good answer. Now listen closely, because this next part may run the risk of putting you in the crosshairs of the Organization and DiZ both."

"Sounds like a real party then," Axel grinned in repressed excitement, and he made sure to pay attention to every detail that of the plan that his old friend had lined up for him.

When the blonde had finished, Axel had readily agreed and then departed for an unknown destination through the same way he had come into the forest, leaving Ventus to stare at where the Nobody of his old friend had just been. He had not been lying when he told Axel that he did not want the redhead to risk anymore than he already had if he was not feeling up to it, but Ventus probably should have known better than to question Axel's resolve. Even when he was a whole person, Lea was the type of person who would do anything for someone he considered a friend. That was something Ventus had learned long ago when he first met the redhead on his homeworld.

* * *

 **Aqua's Journal Entry 1:**

 **I had honestly started to think that I would always be alone, wandering in the Realm of Darkness forever, until Mickey and Riku had appeared before me. It seems like that was mere minutes ago, but I know that it had to have been at least a few days now, but more importantly, we were not trapped deep within that terrible place as I had once been just moments before we had to seal the Door to Darkness. I could sense it long before Mickey even realized what we were close to: the place where my friends and I had grown up and had once called home, Castle Oblivion, was just within reach of us. Despite the sad memories that now make up that place, and the fact that Ven's no longer there waiting for me to wake him up some day, it actually feels good to know that we're so close to a way back into the Realm of Light, and that we'll be getting there through a place that's so familiar to me. Many would think that such a miracle was too good to be true, and in this case, they would be right, because the castle is not as welcoming to us as it should have been.**

 **Somehow, Riku had already found his way there on his own, and through him, I've already discovered that there are people in the castle that shouldn't be. I wish Mickey and I were already there helping Riku to force these beings out of what I had intended to be a safe place for all of my home's secrets, as well as a safe place for Ven to rest while he recovered, but we're still not close enough to do more than simply call out to Riku and lend him additional strength when he needs it. Even so, I know that Riku will be able to manage until Mickey and I get there, and it should not be too long before we arrive at that. Now that I know that Castle Oblivion is so close to us, I can better guide us out of this place, and back to where we all belong. The battle for the Realm of Light is not won yet, and I know what's at stake thanks to Terra, Mickey, Ven, Riku, and two other very good friends. I'm not afraid to face the long darkness, because my friends are always by my side, even now as Mickey and I race to where Riku is so we can help him. I will be the wayfinder that cuts through all the shadows so the three of us can finally reunite with our friends and loved ones who are waiting for us on the other side. I am Master Aqua, and that's a promise.**

* * *

 ** _AN: Okay, so to do a quick, short recap on what we've seen here today: a few more clues about what changed from the canon version of 358/2 Days, Axel's appearance in VTT, an implication about Xion gaining her personal fighting style, Axel being revealed to be a double agent working for Ventus, and possibly others as well, and of course, finally finding out how Kairi's been doing, as well as the return of our favorite bluenette herself, Master Aqua! Yeah be honest, we all knew that I was going to have Aqua be training Kairi in this story, right? And speaking of which, Aqua's now joined into the fun of the journal entries we'll see in this story. Hers covers Riku's side of Chain of Memories, from her point of view, and will eventually lead up to where we found her today._**

 ** _Aqua: I'm just glad to see that I'm back in the story again, and a lot sooner than last time._**

 ** _Ven: Here, here!_**

 ** _AN: Well come on! Of course I'm bringing Aqua back in earlier than the last story. I wasn't going to just sideline her until the trip to Hollow Bastion where the gang meets Tron or something. My girl needed to have a bigger role than that._**

 ** _Ven: Ahem. You mean_ my _girl._**

 ** _AN: You know full well what I meant. Anyways, Aqua's presence on Destiny Islands with Kairi will also have a few other effects on certain other later events (like we don't all know what at least one of those events will be), but I'm sure you're all more interested in why Aqua's still using Master's Defender instead of her own Keyblade. The answer: because she hasn't gotten it back yet. She was a little too busy with other matters to be worried about that, but as you can see, since she was sporting a cool black coat of her own like Mickey and Riku, she didn't need to really worry about needing a Keyblade Glider or a gummi ship to get around to other worlds that much. Anyways, yeah, Kairi's attire hasn't changed from KH2, save for the cool gauntlet containing Keyblade armor that we saw her get in Dual Keys, but really, who was actually expecting there to be any real change in her appearance? I mean, come on. Kairi looks great in all of her canon Kingdom Hearts looks, so why really change something that's so awesome that much. I may do a more original approach on her attire when we get to the Dream Drop Distance story in this series, but that remains to be seen._**

 ** _Xion: I was kinda hoping that we would get to see me and Roxas fighting against Setzer, or at least see a bit more dialogue so we could find out if Setzer botched my name like he had Roxas's._**

 ** _AN: Well originally, I was going to include that match in there, but the chapter was starting to get a bit long, and the only thing that really changed there was that you were present for the match, so it was only natural that I skipped over it. Oh yeah, speaking of matches, I thought it was a little odd that no one in the audience really seemed to be concerned about how Vivi's bat was doing all kinds of weird stuff during his match with Roxas like it was in the game, so I figured I'd give my own reasoning for why that was. I'm not saying that there was actually a rule against Vivi doing that stuff in canon, but honestly, that does seem like it could've been cheating in my eyes. So yeah, only Roxas and Xion could notice it just like they were the only ones to see Riku-Ansem on Day 2. I know it's probably a little cheap, but what other options were there to explain it, ya know?_**

 ** _Kairi: Now, I've really gotta ask, how long will it be until we see me and Aqua again? Because I don't want to wait for too long to join the mission._**

 ** _AN: I'll try to get that chapter out as soon as I can, but we will have gone through a few other worlds by the time you reappear and reunite with Sora, Ven, and the others. Don't worry though, it will happen a lot sooner than it did in canon, and it will be a much more impressive encounter too._**

 ** _Aqua: Now I'm really excited for that moment._**

 ** _Kairi: Me too!_**

 ** _AN: Moving on, yeah, Axel's despite cutting down a few traitors to the Organization, Axel's now gone and turned traitor himself, acting as a spy for Ventus and a few other folks on what all they're doing. Obviously that means they know a few things about what's going on, but whether or not Axel's actually told them everything he knows remains to be seen. The reason why: well, he's probably waiting to find out if Ven's really going to keep his two best friends safe, or maybe he has revealed a lot of info already. Only time and future updates will tell. And just what is this mystery job that Ventus has now given Axel? Well, if it has a chance of putting him in DiZ's crosshairs, I can only think of one thing it could be. How about you guys? Do you have any guesses? Of course you do, but like the previous matter, only time and future updates will really tell about what's up with that._**

 ** _Roxas: Translation, you're just really enjoying the fact that this lets you tease everyone about the things that are yet to come, much like you do whenever we get caught up in those spoiler-prevention gags._**

 ** _AN: Hey, you said it, not me. But I am the one who said this: Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _Roxas and Xion are more than a little thrown off by how the previous day had ended, and yet, they are still surprised to awaken in their rooms again. More unsettling is how their friends don't seem to remember anything about their falling from the clock tower yesterday, but any questions about that are shut down as they find themselves swept up in doing their summer homework assignment instead. Could their chosen subject may lead them to uncovering some new mysteries that could provide the final clues that they need to start piecing the full picture together though? Only time and a quick train ride will tell on Day Five, next time._**

 ** _So, Day 5's going to be slowing things down a bit, getting the siblings back to at least a little bit more normal until things go a bit crazy again, as we should all know from playing through Kingdom Hearts 2, but until that chapter's come out..._**

 ** _Please read and review, and see ya real soon!_**


	5. Summer Vacation: Day 5

_**AN: Well, glad to see we were able to get this one out quickly enough, but to be honest, I feel like not that much really happened here in this chapter, even if it was a bit more eventful.**_

 _ **Roxas: Maybe its because this is the one day in mine and Xion's summer vacation where we didn't have any weird dreams about Sora's life?**_

 _ **AN: Well, yeah, there's that, but in comparison to the last couple of days, there was not really too much going on in terms of action, if you know what I mean.**_

 _ **Xion: I'm not complaining too much. It feels good to get a break from all the fighting. Besides, we'll be getting right back into the battles next chapter.**_

 ** _Riku: Hey, isn't this the part where you do some kind of gag reel thingy on her for mentioning something that could be considered a spoiler?_**

 ** _AN: No, don't be ridiculous. Everyone knows that there's going to be some big battles on Day 6. Though in regards to things that we may or may not spoiling, that will be done in a few review answers._**

 ** _Ventus: Not really too much we can answer without giving away spoilers this time though. But I do think we can at least answer one or two questions, starting with some that were posed by "Monkey D. Conan", if you'd like._**

 ** _AN: Of course. Let's see...well, I suppose that I could start by saying that when Aqua gets her own Keyblade back, we will be seeing it in its evolved form: that being Stormfall, in case anyone is unaware of that, but until then, we're going to see her sticking with Master's Defender for a little while longer. Also, yes, our young Keybearers will be learning about Keyblade Gliders this time around, but the better question is, how many of them will actually be able to summon them? Well, I'm not saying in regards to that answer just yet, mind you, but I can confirm that Xion and Roxas will be getting their own armors, like Sora and Kairi, but their armors will be the gauntlets that the two received in the last story. As for Axel, well, he won't be really getting much of a more up-front role in the story, but his role will still be important regardless of the fact that he's still going to be operating in the shadows._**

 ** _Axel: Wait, why do I still have to be working in the shadows? I mean, all you've got me doing is..._**

 ** _AN: DAH! SPOILER! Pull the lever, Xion!_**

 ** _Xion: Um...[glances at two levers next to her and pulls the one closest to her] You mean this one?_**

 ** _AN: [immediately dashes out of the way before putting Axel where he once stood] Yeah, that's the one._**

 ** _Axel: [ends up dropped down a trap door into freezing, ice cold water below] N-n-not, c-c-c-cool!_**

 ** _AN: Neither was trying to give away such important info. [takes original seat back after trap door closes] Moving along to "Dragon Rider 66" and any questions that were posed by said reviewer, the gauntlet growing/shrinking in that scene was actually more of a way for her to easily get the gauntlet on in that moment, kinda like how Ben 10 put on the Ultimatrix when he first got it in the last episode of Ben 10 Alien Force. Though the gauntlet has changed its size in comparison to how big it originally was in the last story. Oh, and speaking of other matters regarding Kairi's attire, since I know a few people actually brought this up, I do think I might at least add in her wearing a pair of shorts or something later on, mainly so that its more practical for traveling and fighting across the worlds, but for now, the only change to Kairi's KH2 attire is the gauntlet and her bracelets from the game being on the other arm. _**

**_Kairi: I don't think you can really answer that many of "Ronin Warriors Fanatic"'s questions, aside from repeating what you just said about Aqua's old Keyblade._**

 _ **AN: Yeah, that is the only question we could answer, and we pretty much confirmed on more than one occasion now that Aqua's going to be getting her old armor and Keyblade back. Everything else wanders a little too far into the spoiler territory. Though, you can get a better idea of other worlds that will be appearing in this story if you go back to chapter 3 and look through the memories that Roxas and Xion first dreamed of, namely the ones that belonged to Sora.**_

 _ **Finally, wrapping things up with "Anonymaton", dude, don't worry. I don't eject my reviewers for trying to get a spoiler out of me. Sure, I can't answer your question just yet, but I'm not gonna eject you in a comedic fashion. I only do that to the story's characters, and Deadpool.**_

 _ **Riku: What?! Now how's that fair?! I mean, I get not wanting to do that to reviewers because it might make you lose a few, but how come they get let off easy while the rest of us end up getting turned into puppets, lizard people, or some other ridiculous thing if we so much as mention that the reason why I turned into Ansem here is because...**_

 _ **AN: There we go. DAH! ANOTHER SPOILER! [hits the button]**_

 _ **Riku: Aw crap. [gets zapped by several jolts of lightning, after which he can be seen as looking a bit charred and promptly passes out while letting a puff of smoke out of his mouth]**_

 _ **AN: He really needs to work on dodging stuff. Hehe, anybody else get that reference just now?...Eh, it'll come to you, and if it doesn't, don't worry about it. Oh, and to the guest reviewer "Guest" from 10/11/2018, I wouldn't call it screwing around with you all with my little teasers. More like...getting your minds working in an attempt to guess what I've got up my sleeve for each new chapter. And yeah, I do love doin' it.**_

 _ **Well, now that all that's said and done, we've got another day of summer vacation to get to, so let's get on with the show everyone!**_

 ** _I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story._**

* * *

 **Chapter V**

All she could register was a sense of falling. There was nothing else around her to take note of. No sounds, no sights, not even the feeling of the air blowing into her face. Only the impending end when she hit the ground was in her mind, and for some reason, a part of her actually seemed to welcome it. That was what finally drove Xion to awake with a start, springing up in her bed as she began reaching for anything that could help save her. Her rapid grappling came to a halt though when she realized that she was in her room, safe in bed, and not falling from the clock tower at the central station to her death. After looking around her for a few more minutes to reassure herself that she was okay, Xion took a few extra moments to calm her breathing and slowly sigh in relief. A relief that did not last though, as she remembered that she was not the only one who had been falling and that brought on a whole new wave of panic.

Immediately springing up from her bed, Xion dashed out the door, down the hall, and barreled into her brother's room, startling Roxas with her sudden entrance, as he had obviously just woken up as well. The only thing that was more surprising for the blonde was when Xion rushed over and latched onto him in a vice-grip hug as she began crying into his shoulder. When he felt his sister's tears starting to stain his shirt, Roxas could only gently wrap his arms around Xion, rubbing her back with one hand as he soothingly shushed her in an attempt to calm her down, listening to her attempt to explain what was wrong, despite how drowned out her voice was through her sobs. Thankfully, she did regain enough of her voice to finally speak understandably again, but Roxas did not stop in his efforts to reassure her that everything was okay, even after hearing what she said.

"I…I w-was so scared. W-we were on th-the clock tower, and y-you had fallen, and I-I try to s-save you, but th-then I f-fell, and…and…" Xion cried as she continued to weep.

"Shh, it's okay, Sis. It's okay," Roxas whispered. "It was all just a bad dream."

"No it wasn't! It all happened," Xion protested as she finally pulled back, her face still stained with tears despite the sureness in her eyes. "I-I know it did! And we talked to someone in our heads! To Kairi! She's r-real! Just like Naminé was, and like she said that Sora is!" When her brother did not say anything more, she came to a quick realization. "You already know that. You felt it happen, and you had the same dream!"

"…Yeah, I did," Roxas admitted. "But I'm not sure which parts were the actual dream, and what was real. I mean, if we did fall from the clock tower, then how'd we get back here? Or more importantly…how are we still here?"

Xion did not have an answer for him, and that honestly scared her, enough to draw fresh tears from her eyes as she pulled her brother close to her again so that she could cry into his shoulder some more. Roxas did his best to get her to calm down, at least enough so that they could both get up, get dressed, and have breakfast, but it was hard to do so when he was just as freaked out by all of this as she was. A nightmare like that one, even if it was a bit more pleasant at some points than others, was definitely not something you could easily shake off, assuming that it was all just a nightmare, and the fact that they were both asking that question scared him more than anything else.

* * *

It took a while for Xion to let go of Roxas, though it did help when he softly sang a song by someone named Utada Hikaru, known as "Sanctuary" to her, knowing that it always helped her feel a little better when she was really upset. It worked really well for him too, but even after Xion had stopped crying, it was not until after Roxas had cooked a batch of French Toast for breakfast that she finally began to really calm down, but even then, the twins were still feeling out of it as they headed to the Usual Spot to meet with the rest of their friends. They were pretty behind the agreed upon meeting time, much to Olette's ire, but they were not really in the mood to register how annoyed she was that well. Then again, Olette's mood was really more due to something that the other three were talking about before the twins had arrived, and the other boys were not doing a great job of improving it.

"Only three days left of summer vacation, so don't even mention that assignment," Hayner pleaded, referring to the homework that they had yet to start on.

"But we agreed we'd get it finished today," Olette reminded him. "And don't even think about trying to put it off again by making us go on another impromptu beach trip like you did the other day." She then looked at the only other girl in the room and asked, "Xion, can you back me up here?"

Xion did not answer, and that was probably the moment when the other three noticed the siblings' somber moods. They did not even need to ask what was wrong, because Roxas was the one who managed to bring it up. "Yesterday…Xion and I fell off the station tower, didn't we?"

It was clear to Olette that this was bothering her friends, but on the outside, she seemed to think that he was looking for any excuse to avoid doing their homework like the other boys were. That did not stop Hayner from answering the question though. "You guys wouldn't BE here if you did," he pointed out to his fellow blonde.

"But…I could've sworn that," Xion stuttered, and no one needed her to finish her sentence to know that she had thought the same as brother, and it was really bothering her. Olette had even dropped her harsh look when she realized this in favor of giving Xion a quick one-armed hug in an attempt to reassure the smaller girl.

"Maybe you guys just think that because you both fell asleep up there after we all had our ice cream," Pence offered, surprising Roxas and Xion a bit with this new information. "We figured you two were more exhausted from the tournament's excitement than you let on, because you were both out like a light after finishing just one stick of ice cream. We tried waking you guys up, but nothing worked, so we just carried you both home. Honestly, we're just glad that when you did pass out, you ended up leaning back instead of forward."

"Oh…thanks for that, then," Roxas said, with Xion nodding in silent thanks as well. They just wished that they were a little more sincere in their thanks, because they did not even remember so much as holding a stick of ice cream, let alone falling asleep on the tower, and they doubted that it had anything to do with any amount of fatigue.

"No worries, but hey, if you really want to thank us, how about you try losing some weight, Roxas. You have any idea how heavy you are," Hayner joked, finally pulling something close to a smile from the twins while Pence just laughed along with him.

Olette would have joined in on the laughter too, but she barely got any further than a smile before her frustrated look returned in full, and she immediately set it loose upon Hayner. "Hey, stop changing the subject!"

"Okay, already," Hayner sighed in defeat, knowing that there was going to be getting out of doing their assignment this time, especially with Olette like this. "You win. We'll do the homework. Stupid independent study."

"I don't see why you're not more excited about this," Xion admitted, trying to show off her usual attitude so that no one would continue to worry about her, or at least no one other than Roxas. "I mean, independent study does mean that we can basically do a report on whatever we want, and not just some textbook work, or even reading a specific choice of books."

"Well sure, but it's still homework, Xi. That means that we have to hate it, or at least those of us who aren't teacher's pets have to," Hayner retorted, getting in some playful ribbing at the girls as he did. When both girls just gave him an unamused look, he knew that he was going to be burying himself in a deep hole if he did not change the subject in the right way soon, and he quickly asked, "So, anybody got any bright ideas for a topic?"

That did the trick in saving Hayner's skin, because the whole gang went silent as soon as he asked, proving that none of them had really thought about it that much. That did not mean that they were silent for very long, because one idea did come to Roxas pretty quickly. "Maybe we could study the stuff that's happening to me and Xion," he offered up. "You know, the dreams, and the guys in white…"

It sounded like a good idea to Xion, even she was not too fond of getting their three best friends mixed up in whatever craziness that had been unfolding around them, but Hayner was of a different opinion, as he immediately dismissed it by simply saying, "Forget it."

"Why? It sounds like a great idea," Xion questioned in protest.

The other three exchanged a quick look between them before they all looked to the siblings and started to explain. "Well, you know, things have been weird with you two and the town since the photos were stolen, right?"

"Yeah," both siblings nodded in reply, though they kept it quiet on how things had apparently been weird for them even before that.

"Well, tomorrow, we're all gonna search the town and find out what's been goin' on," Pence revealed.

"Lots of people are helping out too," Olette added. "Practically the whole town, really."

"All that for us," Roxas whispered in disbelief, while Xion's eyes just widened a little bit.

"You guys don't really have to do that," Xion finally said after a minute of silence.

"Yeah we know, but we want to," Hayner shrugged. "I mean, you guys are our friends, and everyone in town really likes you guys, too. Besides, it was our choice to do it, and nothing you guys can say will convince us to forget about this."

That brought a smile to both of the twins' faces. They were truly touched by how willing their friends and everyone else in town were to help them solve this mystery. Sure, they already had a few clues of their own that they had not shared with the rest of the gang, but still, knowing that their friends had no intention of leaving them alone in their search for answers made them feel like they were closer to those answers than ever. After thinking about this for a few more minutes, all depressing thoughts about yesterday had finally left Roxas and Xion's minds, but the latter ended up beating her brother to the punch in showing their appreciation for this.

"I'm going to go get some ice cream for everyone. My treat," Xion declared as she turned to rush off to the Tasty Treat Parlor.

"Whoa, hey, you don't need to do that," Olette tried to insist.

"I know, but that's my choice, and I want to. I'll be right back," Xion replied with a smile, and like that, she was gone from the Usual Spot to get the tasty treat of sea-salt ice cream for everyone.

Just like she said though, Xion was right back with ice cream for everyone, and the five friends were all digging in with joy, all of them trying to come up with an idea for their topic. The only problem was that none of them could think of anything. It was not like there was anything that interesting in Twilight Town that they could research, and neither Hayner or Olette were willing to just settle for some basic thing that anyone could do for this assignment. They were just about ready to give up though when Pence suddenly mentioned, "You know, there's this strange rumor going around. Wanna hear it?" He barely waited for everyone to give some form of confirmation before he went into his explanation. "You know the stone steps at Sunset Station? We use 'em all the time, without even thinking about it, but—and this is the weird part—the steps count different going up and down!"

"Seriously," Hayner and Xion both exclaimed in disbelief.

"And there are six other weird stories like that," Pence finished with a nod. "It's like…the seven wonders of Twilight Town."

Normally Xion would have protested and said that such a thing was bogus, but given what had happened around her and Roxas lately, she did not really think that she could dismiss anything as just a story so quickly now. Not only that, but hearing that last bit actually made her grin excitedly as she declared, "Pence, you're a genius!"

"I am," Pence asked.

"Yeah! That's what we should do our school project on. Investigating the seven wonder of Twilight Town," Xion explained, and from the looks on everyone's faces, they all agreed with her on the idea.

"You're right, that is perfect," Pence agreed. "But you know, there might be some other rumors going around, too, so do you think we should investigate those as well?"

"Maybe just the ones that are just as unique or interesting as the seven wonders," Roxas suggested. "I mean, if it's any old thing, I don't think it would be really worth investigating that much."

"Good point," Pence nodded. "So I guess we should split up."

"Okay, Olette and I will go look for some new rumors," Hayner immediately volunteered, with said girl nodding in agreement to the idea.

"Which means you guys and I will go and look for the seven wonders," Pence said as he looked to the twins.

"Sounds like a plan to me," Roxas agreed. "How about we start at the train station first?"

"But won't we need money to ride the train over to Sunset Terrace," Xion asked.

"Not for a simple trip to another part of town," Roxas reminded her. "The train's free for that anyone wanting to get from Market Street to Sunset Terrace. Besides, we can't really use the tunnels to get there since they're in the middle of being worked on."

Xion nodded in conceit of that point, and with nothing else to be said, they all left the Usual Spot to go their separate ways. Hayner and Olette had quickly headed into the main part of town so that they could listen in for any new rumors, while Pence quickly headed up to the Station Plaza. Roxas and Xion would have followed behind him immediately had Roxas not insisted that he and Xion grab their skateboards first. Honestly, she liked getting the chance to use her board as much as her brother, but Xion did not really think it was all that necessary to bring them along this time. When she said as much, Roxas pointed out that bringing along their skateboards would mean that they could save some time walking, and Xion knew that he had a point, but she honestly still thought that it would've made more sense if they were using the tunnels to get to the terrace. There was just something about riding through the tunnels on her board that made Xion feel excited, and the fact that she barely had to stop and wait that much when doing so was a big bonus to that effect too.

Either way, when Roxas returned with their skateboards, his being white with black detailing and hers sea-green with sky-blue wave-like detailing, Xion still happily accepted the board and gladly raced her brother up to the Station Plaza so they could meet up with Pence. Along the way, they both put in some time to do a few quick, easy tricks, just to make sure that they had not lost their touch, since it had been a while since they last used the skateboards. They were doing all kinds of tricks from heelflips, to rail-grinding, and even three-sixty spins every now and then, and after successfully pulling everyone, they were both left with a satisfied feeling that made them forget about all of their troubles by the time they had arrived at the station and met up with Pence. Pence had already gotten them their tickets by the time they had arrived, so all they had to do now was await the train's arrival at the platform, which did not take long at all.

"The time has come," Pence decreed, sounding like someone about to set out on a grand quest in a fantasy novel as he spoke. "Our hunt for the seven wonders begins!"

Xion could not help but giggle at her friend's silliness, while Roxas just managed to keep it down to an amused smile when he noticed Hayner and Olette running to catch up with them. "Hey, that was fast," Roxas called out to them, pulling the other two's attention over to their friends.

"No kidding. Did you guys find some new rumors already," Xion asked.

"Nothing on Market Street," Olette sighed with a shake of her head.

"But don't think you twerps are gonna scoop us," Hayner promised, sounding a lot more excited about the assignment now than he had before. "We're going to the terrace with you."

"You do know this isn't a race, right Hayner," Xion asked, with Olette silently posing the exact same question via the look she had shot at him.

"Well, it definitely is now," Hayner declared with a grin, drawing eye-rolls from the girls and grins from the other guys.

"C'mon, we can all go," Roxas laughed, thinking it would be more fun if they all went together anyways, and he then turned to lead them onto the recently arrived train. A few minutes later, they were all seated and listening to the departure announcement as the train pulled out of the station, headed for Sunset Terrace, and the hunt for the mysteries behind the seven wonders of Twilight Town.

* * *

The train ride from Market Street to Sunset Terrace was a relatively short one, but it was still long enough for folks to just sit back and relax in the comfort of the people around them, just like the five friends had done as they awaited the moment when their search for the seven wonders would begin. While they were going though, Olette, Hayner, and Pence had all pulled out their crystals from the Struggle Trophy so that they could all look through them like they had yesterday, and the twins were eager to join in. The only problem was, Roxas could not seem to find his blue crystal anywhere, and he rapidly checked every pocket he had just to make sure that he had not misplaced it. He came up short though, much to his dismay, but what was really surprising was that Xion seemed unable to locate her crystal too. Normally Xion would be especially careful with anything that she considered to be an important treasure that was shared among friends, so neither one of the twins could figure out how she could have misplaced or even lost it. They were not sure if they had left the spheres in their rooms by accident or if they had dropped them on the way home last night, but either way, finding out that their crystals were missing quickly brought the good moods that they had been holding before down again.

All sad thoughts quickly vanished though, as they heard the train pulling to a stop, and they all looked to see that they had arrived at Sunset Station. The minute the doors had opened, Hayner and Olette raced out, ready to look for some new rumors, while Pence lead the twins to their first wonder at a much calmer pace. Roxas paused for a minute to stretch a little when he suddenly remembered what had inspired their decision to pursue this topic for their homework. "Hey, aren't these the steps that you talked about, Pence," Roxas asked, indicating the stairway that was just in front of them.

"Yeah, the ones that count different going up and down, right," Xion clarified. She looked them over for a minute, counting them from both directions with her eyes as she did, only to frown a little when she had finished. "They seem to count normally to me, or do we need to actually go up and down while we count?"

"Um…" Pence hesitantly said, pulling their attention to him as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "Actually, it's the stupidest thing ever, but…"

"What," Roxas prompted.

Pence sighed in defeat before he finally revealed, "Rai's the one who counted. He's like, 'Every time I count, it's different, Y'KNOW?'"

While Pence had ended up laughing at the end, Xion's reaction was to introduce her hand to her forehead in a simple slap, while Roxas had to ask, "So…he just counted wrong?"

Pence's nod in response drew a sad sounding sigh out of Roxas while Xion could only mutter, "Should've known. This kind of thing is exactly why that guy got held back a couple of grades in school."

"Hey, no worries. There are still six other wonders for us to investigate," Pence attempted to reassure the two.

"Well how about you tell us about a few of them first before we go looking and getting our hopes up this time," Xion suggested.

"Okay, sure," Pence agreed, pulling out a map of Sunset Terrace, on which he had marked the locations of the very wonders they were looking into. "First one is 'The Friend From Beyond the Wall,' which says that at the end of the bricked-off alley, a ball will come out of the wall, sometimes even more than one.…"

Pence's list continued on, with each one sounding more intriguing to the twins than the last, or at least more impressive than the one that resulted from Rai's poor math skills, but their friend insisted that they meet up with Hayner and Olette before they investigate the sixth wonder, so the only other ones they heard about where "The Moans From the Tunnel", "The Doppelganger", and "The Animated Bag", the former two of which sounded a lot more impressive than the last one. When Pence finished, the two took a minute to look over his map so that they could memorize each location, until Xion spotted something odd on his map. A little, silver question mark that was circled in red, with the image of a medieval knight's helmet beside it, and considering that Pence had told them that most of the wonders were all here at the terrace, save for the seventh, she had to wonder if that image had anything to do with the last wonder.

It did not take long for Xion's curiosity to wear her down, and she immediately pointed out the symbol as she asked, "Hey Pence, what's this symbol here mean?"

Pence glanced to the question mark next to the knight's helmet, and his eyes seemed to glimmer with excitement as he revealed, "Oh that's for the legendary eighth wonder: 'The Knight of Twilight Town.'"

"Eighth wonder," Roxas questioned, obviously wondering why they were only looking into the first seven.

"Yeah, the one wonder of Twilight Town that's hardest to really pin down. I thought everyone knew about it," Pence admitted. "Rumor has it that at various times of the day, people have seen a strange figure going around the city, jumping across rooftops, ducking through alleyways, and doing so with all kinds of crazy moves, and the only thing anyone has been able to tell about this person is that they're wearing a suit of armor like a knight. No one knows what the knight's doing, or why he's going around the town, but a lot of people think that he could be looking for something, or someone."

"So why aren't we investigating this one too," Xion asked, getting to the question that Roxas was attempting to have answered.

"That's easy, because unlike the other wonders, the knight's appearances are all so random that it's almost impossible to pin down an exact spot on where someone is most likely to find him. Most people would be lucky to so much as catch the smallest glimpse of the cape he wears as he passes by, let alone the actual knight," Pence revealed.

"You don't say," Roxas muttered, and from the sound of his voice, Xion knew that something important had just clicked in his mind. After a moment, Roxas told Pence to go on ahead to see if he could solve any of the wonders on his own, and once their heavy-weight friend was out of sight, and likely hearing range, he immediately added, "I wonder if it could be him."

"Him," Xion repeated in confusion.

Roxas quickly double-checked to make sure they were alone before he whispered, "You know how in some of our recent dreams we've seen ourselves in a group of people that wear black coats?"

"Yeah, those are the ones that I'm the least bit fond of," Xion confirmed, her expression becoming downcast at the thought of specific parts of those particular dreams.

It was obvious to Roxas which parts she was referring to and he quickly pressed on so she did not think on them for too long. "Well, if you've been seeing the same things that I've seen in my dreams, then you would remember that in some of them, I had a meeting with a man in a suit of armor, and the first time I saw him, I managed to figure out that he was…"

Xion quirked an eyebrow at her brother, confused as to why he cut himself off like that, but receiving no explanation from him at all. "Who," she finally asked. "Who do you think he was?"

"I'm not sure if I should still be keeping quiet about it or not, but when he first met, he told me that I shouldn't say his name out loud because he was trying to hide from that group or something. Even so, if this Twilight Knight and that guy in armor are the same person, then that means that the knight is…" Roxas cut himself off again, cupped his hands around his mouth so that only Xion could see his lips, and silently mouthed the last two words to her. "Master Ventus."

"What? Master…Do you really think so," Xion asked, just barely able to keep herself from saying the full name out loud.

"Don't know, but it does fit pretty well," Roxas insisted. "The only thing I can't figure out is why he would be going around town instead of talking with us directly."

Xion just shrugged, not entirely sure of the answer either, before she reminded him, "Maybe it's got something to do with me. I mean, so far, you're the only one we've seen meeting him in the dreams."

"But from the way he talked, he made it seem like you two had met at some point as well, at least in passing," Roxas reminded her.

There was no denying her brother's point on that, but for now, they did not have time to worry too much about this. "He probably has his reasons, but for right now, maybe we should just focus on getting the assignment done."

"…Yeah, okay," Roxas finally sighed, and the two then rushed off to catch up with Pence, skateboards firmly tucked under their arms and ready for action at any minute. Still, despite putting it aside, the mystery behind whether or not the Twilight Knight was Master Ventus or not had nestled itself well into their minds. So much so, that they did not even notice how that very master was looking down at them from the roof of the station right at that moment, his cape billowing in the wind, before he suddenly disappeared in a flash of light.

* * *

After catching up with Pence, the three figured they could save a bit of time if they split up as well, with each of the twins taking two wonders each while Pence coordinated their efforts for them, so after checking their friend's map one more time, Roxas headed off to look into the Friend From Beyond the Wall and the Moans From the Tunnel, and Xion went after the Doppelganger and the Animated Bag. It did not take either twin long to reach their targets on their skateboards, but the real excitement only came after they had reached said destinations. Roxas was the first of the two to discover this, and when he did, he found himself in an unexpected game of dodge ball.

When he arrived in the alley where his first wonder was supposed to be located, he immediately went up to the wall where the balls were supposed to come from, and after simply tapping against the brick wall once, a few large spheres came flying out of it. It was like the wall was not even there, but as far as Roxas could tell, it was completely solid. He did not have too much time to think on it though, as after a while, the slow balls stopped coming and were quickly replaced with a large multitude of balls that went flying at an amazing speed. Roxas was quickly forced to run, dodge, and jump in order to avoid the massive spheres, and ended up getting knocked a little closer to the other end of the alley every time he got hit, but he knew that he had to get back to the wall that the balls were coming through, because they did not start flying until he had approached it. It was a struggle in and of itself, but eventually, Roxas did manage to spot a few breaks that he could slip through, and immediately slapped his palm against the brick wall again. When he did, the whole world seemed to distort around him, in much the same way that it had before Axel had shown up yesterday, until all the remaining balls disappeared, save for one, which went flying out of the alley.

When Roxas turned to follow it, he found Pence waiting for him at the alley's entrance. How his friend had caught up to him so quickly, Roxas did not know. He was more interested in telling Pence about what he had discovered, but his friend did not seem to believe Roxas, and instead was insistent on the idea that the ball flying out of the alleyway was just something that the blonde had thrown, which meant that people had assumed a ball was flying out of the wall because of kids playing around in the alley. Despite his best efforts, Roxas just could not convince Pence otherwise, but then again, it was not like he had anyone to back him up, so he just moved on to his next wonder: the Moans From the Tunnel.

The tunnel in question was actually the one that led from the terrace to the underground tunnels that connected nearly all of Twilight Town about as well as the train, so Roxas had no trouble finding it. When he went in, he spotted Vivi, apparently practicing his skills in Struggle, so he went to go and say hi. Just when Roxas had gotten close to the smaller kid, he jumped back in shock as Vivi suddenly multiplied to the point where there was now three of him, and all three Vivis were obviously looking for a fight. Thankfully, Roxas had made it a point to carry his Struggle bat with him from now on, especially after what had happened during the tournament yesterday, so he had no problem fighting back. When he struck down one of the Vivis, the duplicate seemed to disperse into a kind of data-stream, and was then replaced by a few more, making Roxas's new job a little more difficult for him. Thankfully, this Vivi copies were not on the same level of ferocity in their fighting abilities as the actual Vivi had been yesterday during their Struggle match, so Roxas had little trouble taking each one down with a single hit. Even so, it did not mean that fighting against all these duplicates was any less tiring, but eventually, Roxas did manage to get the number down to just one, and made quick work of that final Vivi afterwards.

After the last Vivi was beaten, the world seemed to become distorted once again, but there did not seem to be any changes in Roxas's surroundings this time. That was when he heard the real Vivi calling out to him from behind, and he immediately turned around to see the kid in question walking over to him. It was at that point that Vivi explained that he came down to this particular part of the tunnels to practice for Struggle, and he incorrectly assumed that Roxas was here for the same reason. Roxas tried to explain, but he was not sure how to do so without sounding a little crazy, so he ended up just letting Vivi think what he wanted. Seconds after Vivi had left, Pence arrived and Roxas found himself repeating the same process all over again. At least this time it was a bit more understandable to assume that the moaning from the tunnels was just Vivi practicing, but Roxas still had to wonder how Pence caught up with him so quickly.

Xion was not having much better luck than her brother, as her first target, the Doppelganger, proved to be just as dangerous as the Vivi clones. When she approached the small courtyard where people were said to have spotted the wonder in question, she caught sight of her reflection in the waterfall, and she could not help but admire herself a little. She was not a vain person who was constantly checking her appearance or anything, but Xion did feel like she could not help but admire how nice she looked from time to time. It was actually right when she was in the middle of doing so when it happened. Her reflection suddenly seemed to gain a life of its own before stepping out of the waterfall and turning completely black, like some kind of large shadow! The minute that this Shadow-Xion stood before the girl, it produced a Struggle bat and then attacked her! Xion was quick to raise her skateboard in front of her as an impromptu shield, and after pushing this shadowy copy of herself back, she grabbed her own bat that she had decided to start carrying around for the same reasons as her brother, and launched a counterattack. Unlike the Vivis that Roxas fought, the Shadow-Xion did not go down too easily, but it was still an easy fight. Despite how much it looked like the real Xion, the shadow version did not move as quickly, and its attacks tended to be a little sluggish, which gave Xion several opportunities to attack it. Even when it did attack, it did not seem to have much strength behind its blows, so Xion was able to shrug off its strikes very easily. In the end, Xion managed to take down her shadowy twin, and then watched as it was dispersed into a faint data-stream.

Just like with Roxas's wonders though, Xion noticed the world around her appearing to distort in the same way that it had before Axel showed up yesterday, and when everything returned to normal, Pence arrived to find Xion lying face down on the ground. He was understandably concerned about the raven haired girl, but Xion insisted that she was fine before she tried to tell Pence what happened. She never got the chance, as Pence quickly noticed both of their reflections in the waterfall, and assumed that was the reason behind the seven wonder that Xion was investigating. He was not entirely wrong, as the whole fight did start after Xion had noticed her reflection in the waterfall, but he did still miss out on the fact that an actual doppelganger of Xion had actually stepped out of said reflection. Still, Xion was content to let Pence think what he wanted. She already had enough craziness to deal with as it was, and the last thing she needed was to give Pence a reason to think she had finally lost it. Even so, something about the thought of another one of her kind of left Xion a little freaked out, to the point where she was trembling a little. Not noticeably to just anybody, but just enough for her to take notice of it.

She managed to shake off the scary thoughts, seeing as the Doppelganger matter was done and dealt with, and Xion then moved on to the Animated Bag, which was up on Sunset Hill, one of the best places to catch a Twilight Town sunset, besides the station tower. She passed a couple of kids looking for their dog along the way, and when she arrived, she quickly spotted the large, brown bag that the rumor spoke of. She paused for a minute to take a quick look around her, making sure that there was nothing in the area that could jump out and attack her this time, and once she felt safe enough, she slowly approached the bag, only to jump back when the bag suddenly sprung to life and started running around the field. It was actually kind of funny to watch, and Xion figured that it might be fun to try and ride on the bag, so she quickly hopped on. Apparently, the living bag was not too fond of giving out free rides, because it quickly started trying everything it could to get her off. Xion managed to hang on though, and even guided the bag so that it would not run into anything in the field, until finally, the bag stopped moving altogether, bringing an end to the ride.

Just like with the Doppelganger though, the world became distorted around her, and when it returned to normal, she watched as the bag deflated, while a large dog came shuffling out of the bag, making Xion coo in response while she quickly stepped over to scratch the dog behind its ears. When Pence arrived, he found Xion still giving the dog a bit of loving attention by rubbing its head and back, and he quickly assumed that the Animated Bag was just the dog stuck inside of the sack. After a few more minutes, the dog's ears perked up, and the two watched as it raced away, likely heading home after hearing its owner calling for it, before they decided to go and meet up with Roxas. All the while though, Xion could not help but question how Pence had caught up with her so quickly. It was like he just knew where she would be and when the perfect time to show up was.

When she finally met up with Roxas, she could tell from the way he was staring at Pence that he had been through the same thing, and was even wondering about the same matter that had been on Xion's mind after they had found the dog in the sack. Roxas seemed to notice the same thing in regards to his sister, and they both silently promised to discuss that mystery later. Right now, they still had to help with their homework assignment, even if it was turning out to be a lot less fun than they had been expecting it to be. "You know…that last wonder I checked out wasn't exactly wonderful," Roxas stated, disappointment clear on his face.

"Speak for yourself," Xion informed him, her mind going to the dog that she had just been playing with. That did not keep her smile going for long as she thought about what they discovered in regards to the other wonders, and she could not help but add, "But he does have a point. After looking into them, most of these wonders are not exactly all that…great."

"I understand, say no more," Pence reassured them, just as excited as ever. Clearly he was enjoying this investigation into the seven wonders more than anyone else in their group. "But this next one's gonna be really great! Wonder number Six!"

Before the twins could ask for any details, they heard Hayner calling out, "Hey, we got another lead!"

"'The Ghost Train Mystery'," Olette finished for the blonde as the two of them came to a halt before the rest of their group.

Apparently, it was not big news to Pence, as he soon enlightened them. "Everyone knows about Wonder number Six."

"Yeah, well, I didn't," Hayner retorted.

"Me neither," Xion revealed, sticking up for Hayner when she did. "Can you tell us about it?"

Pence nodded in reply, and quickly began the tale behind the sixth wonder of Twilight Town. "Apparently, there's this one train that runs along the tracks from an unknown destination, traveling between the town and wherever it came from. It's nothing like any of the other trains, and not just in appearance either. For they say the train is empty. No driver, no conductor, no passengers…No return."

"Wow! Now that sounds cool," Xion breathed in awe, a grin splitting over her face.

"Y-yeah. Really cool," Roxas nervously agreed, reminding Xion that her brother was not too fond of spooky stuff. Really, it was a surprise that she and Pence had convinced him to go investigate the Moans From the Tunnel. Still, in an impressive show of will, Roxas shook off his nervousness and asked Hayner and Olette, "Did you guys find out where the train runs?"

"Yep. Word is that you can see it from Sunset Hill," Olette revealed.

"Well what're we waiting for? Let's go," Xion cheered, and she immediately hopped on her skateboard afterwards to race off to that very spot.

"Hey! Wait for us, Sis," Roxas called after her, mounting his own skateboard as he did, with the other three following just behind him.

* * *

The gang had arrived at Sunset Hill in no time at all, and had all quickly gotten comfortable as they watched the train tracks from the top of the hill. Hayner and Olette had insisted that all the rumors implied that the train would be passing by at any minute when they arrived, but they had been sitting there for quite a while now, and there was absolutely no sign of any trains that were even the least bit different from the usual ones. Still, Pence insisted that the ghost train was supposed the one wonder that was guaranteed to be legitimate, and given how excited Xion seemed to be at the prospect of seeing the thing, none of them were too eager to leave until after they saw the train in question. After a while though, there was still no sign of the train, and they all had to agree that they would give up on the whole thing once it got really late. Of course, the urge to leave increased a little more when an unwelcomed guest suddenly showed up for their little party.

"Good afternoon, slackers," Seifer greeted, sounding as arrogant as ever even as he walked up to them. "What're you doing out here?"

"What do you care," Hayner questioned with a glare.

"I don't. Tell me anyway," Seifer demanded.

"We're just doing the summer homework Seifer," Xion informed him, hoping to avoid anyone making a scene or starting a fight. "We figured we'd investigate the seven wonders of Twilight Town for it."

"And how's that been going so far," Seifer questioned, his tone and expression clear signs of what he figured would be the obvious answer.

"…Not so good," Pence admitted. "But that'll change soon. Right now, we're waiting for the ghost train."

"Waiting for the ghost train," Seifer mocked with a laugh, and that was enough to get Roxas to spring up and practically get in Seifer's face. Xion did the same as her brother, but was a bit more hesitant to do so after her previous encounter with the local bully just yesterday, and it seemed like that was preventing Seifer from really getting into anything big as well, as he just glared down at the two. Though it was more Roxas than it was Xion, as proven when he posed a specific question to the blonde twin. "Why does looking at you always tick me off?"

"I dunno. Maybe it's destiny," Roxas offered, though it was clear that he did not really care too much about the actual reason himself.

That answer actually brought a smile to Seifer's face, and he soon replied, "Destiny? In that case, let's be friends."

"Wha…" Roxas gaped in response.

Xion was right there with her brother. First Seifer actually said something nice about her brother and talked to her in the same manner, and now he was actually offering to be friends? It all made her wonder one thing. "Who are you and what've you done with Seifer?"

Xion's question just made Seifer laugh a little more as he turned to face the horizon, before he finally replied, "I just don't feel like cooperating with destiny. My fate is something I decide for myself."

"When have you ever 'cooperated' with anything," Hayner questioned, but something about his words seemed to strike a chord with the twins. Despite never really thinking about it, they too were not all that fond of having something or someone else decide their fate, and they also felt like it was something that they should decide on their own. At least, they were pretty sure that they had never really thought about it before, but for some reason, they felt like Seifer's words held a bit more meaning for them than just a passing notion.

Seifer did not say anything in response to Hayner, and instead, just smiled at the group before bumping a fist against his chest as a show of good faith to his words before he walked off. Of course, that was not before he promised Olette that he would remember something about tomorrow, and Xion was about to question her friend on what he could have meant, when Roxas spotted something on the tracks below that he quickly directed everyone's attention to. There, chugging along down the tracks and into the tunnel that ran through Sunset Hill, was a train unlike any of the others that the gang had ever seen before, at least regarding the ones that ran through Twilight Town. A majority of the train was colored in dark blue, and had intricate designs running all along it for detailing. At the front, one could see a large, yellow star, while the front window seemed to be heavily tinted in a purple color, and on top of the smokestack, there appeared to be a blue cone with yellow stars and crescent moon shapes running around it.

As they watched it pass by, Roxas and Xion could only stare in silent awe, and neither of them said anything until after it had finally passed through the tunnel. "It's really true," Roxas whispered before he turned to their friends. "And there's really no one aboard!"

"Hold on. What's the catch? There's gotta be a catch, right," Xion questioned, but none of the other three said anything in response. They just exchanged uncertain looks between each other, which Xion took to mean only one thing. "You mean…It's real?! Like really real?!"

"Only one way to find out. Let's go to the station," Roxas insisted, and he was quickly riding his skateboard to the station soon after.

"For someone who doesn't like spooky stuff, he seems even more excited about that than any of the rest of us," Xion muttered to herself as she hopped onto her own board and followed after him, not really hearing any of the others' cries to wait up.

The twins did not stop though, but instead, just kept racing towards the station, until they had to climb the stairs up to the platform. The others only just managed to reach them seconds after the two had came to a stop before the ghost train, and that was only because the two had to stare in awe at the locomotive. Now that they could see it better, they saw that the gold and silver designs decorating it included numerous stars and moons, and a pair of gold, shooting stars was facing outwards on the sides of the roof on each side. Even the windows were shaped like five-pointed stars, save for the ones on the doors, all serving to give the train a feeling to it that could only be described as magical.

"It's really beautiful for a ghost train," Xion finally commented in barely more than a whisper.

"Yeah, no kidding," Roxas agreed with a nod. "But where did it even come from?"

Xion thought about it for a minute, slightly pondering why none of the others were offering any insight, until she finally suggested, "Maybe there's a clue on board? Like a log of what routes it's taken."

"Yeah, maybe," Roxas agreed. "Let's go in and find out."

The twins then started towards the train's door, but they were stopped short when Hayner and Olette suddenly grabbed them by their arms, much to their surprise. When the two turned back to see why their friends had stopped them, they saw worried looks on all three of their friends' faces. "What's wrong," Xion asked.

"Um…you'll get hurt," Hayner replied.

"What're you talk…?" Roxas started to ask as he turned back to face the train, only to gasp in surprise before he could finish when he was facing the train again. Or at least, where the train was supposed to be.

When she heard her brother stop talking, Xion turned back to where the train was as well, and gasped in surprise too when she saw that the train had vanished into thin air. She knew that they did not hear it start pulling out of the station, but she also knew for a fact that it was just right there in front of them. In point of fact, the only train that was in the station now, was the one that was just pulling in, and it was the same kind of train that they saw every day. After watching people come off of the recently arrived train, Roxas and Xion were finally broken out of their stunned stupor at the sound of Pence saying that they should head on home, feeling they could not keep quiet on this.

"But we both saw a train with no driver come from the beach, and it was nothing like the usual ones," Xion insisted. "I know Roxas and I couldn't have both imagined it!"

"She's right! I mean, you guys had to have seen it, too, right," Roxas added, looking to see if there was any indication that their friends were joking.

The other three just kept silent, until Olette finally shook her head and said, "There was no train, you guys. You both just suddenly looked out over the tracks and then took off like a bat out of hell."

Neither of the twins were sure what to say in response to that, and they ended up not doing anything to stop Hayner from pushing them both onto the train so they could head home. This was now the third time that they had seen something their friends had not, and despite the fact that they had both seen it, the others had all insisted that they were imagining things. They did not understand how the other three could think that. It was impossible for two people to imagine the exact same thing down to the last detail whether they were twins or not, so why were they so insistent on saying that it was all just something that Roxas and Xion had made up? Either way, nothing could change the fact that this little investigation of the seven wonders of Twilight Town had only led them into even more strangeness than they already had before.

* * *

Roxas and Xion could not help but think over what had happened when the four wonders that they had investigated and the ghost train the whole trip back to Market Street, because while some of the wonders did in fact have a logical explanation to them, somewhat, they both knew for a fact that something really strange was behind them. None of their friends seemed to agree with them, especially after that incident with the train, and eventually, Olette even suggested that they were just seeing things because they were both tired. Never had Xion felt more of a desire to tear her own friends apart for treating her and her brother like this, but Roxas managed to help her keep it in when he reminded her that they were just concerned for their wellbeing. Even so, Roxas was just as upset about his friends not believing either of them as his sister was. It did not matter either way though, because as far as their investigation went, the others all had the same thought, and they did still have one last part of their homework to deal with before it was done, a fact that Hayner had reminded everyone.

"Let's go home and work on the paper," Hayner decided for them, clearly not looking forward to it. "Not that we'll have too much to write."

"Yeah, it'll probably go like this: 'The rumors were bogus. The end,'" Pence outlined for everyone, his disappointment pretty obvious.

"Well we can still make it sound good if we write about all the work we did," Olette offered in an attempt to cheer everyone up, while reminding them that they needed to put in more effort than that.

Olette's efforts to cheer the others up did seem to work, but only because Xion thought of something that they others seemed to have missed. "Well, we can't really do a proper report yet. We still haven't done anything to investigate the seventh wonder."

"Yeah, and what about the legendary eighth wonder? Shouldn't we try to figure out something about it, too," Roxas questioned. Granted he was not sure they should bother, given what Pence said about there not being any place where they could really look for the Twilight Knight, but he did feel like they needed a good excuse to go and look for said knight. After all, if the knight really was Master Ventus, then he wanted to meet with the man, and he knew that Xion probably felt the same way.

"Who cares," Hayner snapped, clearly having had enough of the whole investigation.

"We do," Xion replied, indicating herself and her brother. "Besides, we can't really say all the rumors were bogus if we didn't investigate all of them."

"Whatever," Hayner scoffed before stalking off.

Olette gave Xion an apologetic look before going after their moody friend, and Xion knew that she was mainly apologizing for Hayner's behavior just now. Not that she could really blame him, after all the back-to-back disappointments they had today in their investigations. They were all expecting something more from the seven wonders, and aside from her and Roxas, Xion knew that none of them had seen anything out of the ordinary from any of those wonders. Still, she was not going to give up yet, and Roxas clearly was not either, as he was the one who convinced Pence to tell them a little about the last wonder.

"It's at that haunted mansion," Pence finally sighed in reply to his friend's prodding. "People say that there's a girl who appears in the second floor window, even though no one's lived there for years."

Hearing that automatically made Roxas think of one particular girl, and after nodding in thanks to Pence, he jumped onto his skateboard and headed straight for the Old Mansion. Xion was hot on his trail, likely thinking the same thing as him, even if it was for somewhat different reasons. As far as either twin knew, there was only one girl in all of Twilight Town that could have been appearing in any window of that mansion, and it was the same girl that they had encountered just two days ago: Naminé. If there was a chance that she was hiding out in the mansion, then they wanted to know for sure. Both so they could talk with her more, and maybe even figure out how she had even gotten in the building, considering that the gates were always locked shut.

When they got to the wall with an opening into the forest, the two quickly tucked their skateboards under their arms and walked the rest of the way, knowing that they would not be able to ride the boards through the woods. From there, it was just a short trip to the gates of the mansion where they had cornered the photo thief, or the Dusk as they had heard Axel call those creatures, and they quickly started surveying what they could of the building and its surrounding area. Sadly, there was absolutely no sign of anyone forcing their way into so much as the mansion's front yard, let alone the building itself, and it was hard to really see anything in any of the windows, but then again, they only needed to look into the windows that were on the second floor, since that was where Pence said the girl was supposed to appear.

Speaking of Pence, the heavy-weight boy suddenly came up behind them, having decided to follow the two after they took off from the station, and upon coming into hearing range of the twins, he startled them both a little when he spoke up, revealing a small piece of information that the two were not expecting. "You know something, we were gonna check the mansion out tomorrow. It is the most suspicious place."

"Right," Roxas nodded in agreement.

"Not to mention this is where a lot of the craziness that's been happening around us lately started," Xion noted aloud.

"Yeah, that was what I said when I brought up with the others," Pence cottoned on. "Even Seifer's gang was gonna help."

"Seifer/Seriously," Roxas and Xion simultaneously gasped in surprise.

"Yeah, Hayner asked him to," Pence revealed, and that earned the top spot on the list of weirdest things that the twins had ever heard. Hayner, of all people, asking _Seifer_ to help out with something? Olette, they could understand, but Hayner? Roxas and Xion both wondered how Pence could not see just how much wrong was in that sentence, especially given the history between the two boys in question. Out of everyone in their group, Pence had known Hayner the longest, so in a way, it did make sense that he would not be too surprised by Hayner suddenly asking Seifer for help, but not to the point where he could just say it so casually.

Xion's eyes started to move towards the sky so she could try and comprehend just what was going on with everyone and everything around her today, but she stopped short when she caught a glimpse of something in the second floor window on the left side of the mansion. Something dressed in white and with blonde hair that was unmistakable, even from this distance. "Hey, Roxas," Xion whispered as she tapped her brother's shoulder, getting his attention so she could point it out to him. "Look up there."

Roxas immediately directed his gaze to where Xion was pointing, and like his sister, he automatically knew that it was Naminé standing in the window, looking down at them. However, somehow, he got the impression that she was more focused on him and Xion than anything else outside of said window, and part of him could not help but wish that he was the only thing she was focusing her beautiful eyes on. He was about to shake that thought from his head when he felt his face heating up, knowing that Xion would likely start teasing him if she noticed, when suddenly, he felt like something was moving him over the mansion's front yard, and up to the window that Naminé was looking through, all while his vision slowly went white, forcing him to close his eyes in reflexive response.

When he opened his eyes again, Roxas was surprised to see he was no longer outside with his sister and Pence, but inside what he could only assume was the very room that Naminé had appeared to be standing in. As he glanced around, Roxas could not help but notice how nearly everything in the room was completely white. Everything from the walls, to the floor, and even the furniture was that same, white color, almost like a blank picture in a coloring book, and the only reason he could take notice of the furniture at all was because of how it somehow managed to stand out from the rest of the room. The only color in the room came in the form of several drawings depicting several different people and places, and while there was a bit of a child-like quality to them, Roxas would not say that they were bad drawings. One thing that he did note was that he recognized a lot of the places and people depicted in the drawings, because they were all things he and Xion had seen in their dreams, at least in regards to the ones about Sora and his friends. His eyes soon found a drawing of Kairi, apparently holding out a star for someone, and he could not help but think back to one of his most recent dreams as he studied it, namely the one where Kairi had gifted Sora with her lucky charm. He probably would have just stood around looking at that particular drawing all day had a recently familiar voice not suddenly called out to him.

"Roxas…" Naminé's voice called, making Roxas turn and attempt to spot the girl. The only problem was that she was nowhere to be seen, and yet, he was sure that he heard her just now, like she had been standing next to him.

"Naminé? Was that you," Roxas questioned, continuing to look around the room until his eyes found a specific drawing of three figures standing before two more, indiscernible ones. The only reason why he was able to figure out who the other three were was because of the obvious hairstyles that they seemed to have, and Roxas could only place one name to each of those three. "This is…me and Xion? …And Axel's there too."

"The three of you are best friends," Naminé stated, sounding like it was completely obvious.

"Are you sure about that," Roxas questioned, thinking back to yesterday's events as well as the dream he had the previous night.

"Of course. You and Xion both told me so yourselves," Naminé revealed. Apparently, she could see the doubt on Roxas's face, because the next question she asked was, "Isn't that part of the reason why you're here? Because you want to know the truth about who you and your sister are?"

"No one knows me and my sister better than we do," Roxas countered. He had to pause for a minute before he finally admitted, "But…I do admit that there are quite a few questions coming to us lately."

"Of course," Naminé giggle in reply, apparently happy to hear that.

"And more than that…does it have anything to do with what's been happening to us lately? I just don't get it," Roxas added as he moved across the room, studying some of the other drawings until he saw one that made him pause.

"You know these four, don't you," Naminé asked.

"Yeah. Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Ventus," Roxas recited. "I figured that they were real for a while now, especially after what you told me and Xion a few days ago, but I still don't get why we've been seeing Sora's memories in our dreams when we weren't even there."

Roxas was hoping that he would get more of a straight answer from the girl, and this time, Naminé did not disappoint him. That did not keep him from noticing how she sounded a little ashamed as she revealed the information to him. "About a year ago, some things happened, and I had to take apart the memories chained together in Sora's heart. But now…I'm putting them all back exactly the way they were," Naminé recounted. "It's taken me a long time, but pretty soon Sora will be his old self again. There was just a few bumps in the road that slowed the progress, and it wasn't until a few months ago that we found out…you and Xion were the cause."

"How could we have made it hard for you to fix Sora's memories," Roxas questioned.

Naminé was silent for a little while, even as Roxas moved about the room to see a drawing of what was clearly him and Xion standing on either side of Sora, but eventually, she did answer his question. "You, Xion, and Sora are all connected, and…in order for Sora to become completely whole again, he needed you two to come here."

"Us? But why, and what for," Roxas asked, even more confused than ever.

"You and Xion held a part of what he is, and without meaning to, you were also both draining more of it out of Sora," Naminé revealed. "But we did find a way to reverse the effect thanks to Ventus and the two of you. Still, even after the process is complete, he'll need you and Xion, Roxas."

Roxas could hardly believe what he had just heard. Part of Sora was inside of him and his sister? But how could that have been possible? Did it have anything to do with why they were seeing Sora's memories in their dreams? Roxas was no longer sure if he wanted to know, because all this new information was starting to scare him a little. It was right to the point where he was ready to run out the door, but just as soon as he had turned around, he finally spotted the blonde girl he had been talking to, sitting calmly at the far end of the table in the center of the room, with a small smile being cast in his direction. Seeing her before him again made Roxas feel and think at least a million different things at once, and it was all to the point where he was not really sure what to do now that she was here before him. In the end, he decided that it would be better if he just sat down, and when he took a seat at the end of the table opposite from Naminé, the girl smiled a little more, indicating that he made a good choice. That did not stop him from asking the question that he had wondered about for a while now.

"Naminé…who are you," Roxas finally asked.

"I'm a witch with power over Sora's memories and those around him," Naminé revealed, clearly ashamed of having such powers, telling Roxas that someone had used that power for something she did not like at all.

"A witch?"

Naminé's smile fell at this point, and was quickly replaced with a scowl as she told him, "That's what DiZ called me."

Hearing the name DiZ automatically made Roxas think back to the masked man that had appeared yesterday, shortly after Axel had, and hearing that he had called someone who appeared to be as sweet and pretty as Naminé a witch actually made Roxas scowl a little too. Another look at her face told Roxas that being called that really seemed to hurt the girl's feelings, and he was not about to have any of that. Hence the reason why he quickly said, "Well, I don't think you're a witch. If anything, I think that would make you more of a sorceress or something, and a really pretty one too."

The last bit had slipped out before Roxas could stop it, and he quickly cringed back a bit while the room suddenly seemed to get a lot hotter, but the endearing smile that Naminé gave him in response seemed to indicate that his words had the effect he was going for. The small blush on her rosy cheeks also made him think that she just became a lot cuter, but he somehow managed to keep those thoughts at bay just enough to hear her say, "That's really sweet of you to say, Roxas. I mean, Ventus had told me something similar to that, but coming from you, it means a lot more. Still, it doesn't really tell me why I have this power…I just know that I do. I'm not even sure there's a right way for me to use it, beyond what I've been doing to help Sora, with yours and Xion's help.

"Hmm…I can't help you there," Roxas sadly admitted, earning him another sweet smile from Naminé that made him suddenly start wishing that he could always make her smile like that. He managed to distract himself from those thoughts, and the new heat that was coming to his face, by glancing away from the blonde and over to the picture of himself, Xion, and Axel though. "You know, it's funny. Despite what I said, I can't help but wonder if I really do know anything about myself or Xion. All the dreams we've been having…The things we heard from Axel and that other guy yesterday…I guess it actually has made me wonder, if there's something about us that we don't know about. Do you…maybe know what that is?"

Naminé slowly nodded, but her eyes indicated that she was hesitant to give the answer, mainly because it seemed to sadden her for some reason. Although, it could have been because she thought it would upset him, but either way, she still answered his question. "You…and Xion…Neither of you were ever supposed to exist, Roxas," Naminé finally confessed.

"What? How can you say that, even if it is true," Roxas asked, hardly believing his ears.

"I'm sorry," Naminé apologized, a small hint of tears beginning to form in the corner of her eyes. "I guess some things really are better left unsaid, but you know…Maybe you two were supposed to exist, because without either of you…things out in the worlds could be a lot worse than they are right now. Maybe you can still keep making a difference, just like you both wanted to when you first came to me, Ventus, and DiZ."

Hearing that he wanted to do something to help people did make Roxas feel a little better, despite how seeing Naminé tear up like this made him feel like he was breaking a little on the inside, but that still left one question unanswered for him. "Why did Xion and I come to you all, anyway? I don't think it was just so we could somehow help, given what we saw some of the more recent dreams."

Once again, Naminé hesitated, her face forming a bit of a scowl as she thought about it, until she said, "Because you wanted to escape from the people that did not want Sora to wake up. It was the only way you could help any of us, and they're not the type to let their members go easily." Roxas was about to ask something else when Naminé suddenly raised a hand and said, "I'm sorry, but it looks like our time's up. Don't worry though; Xion can tell you a little more after I meet with her, just like you should tell her about what I told you."

From the sound of that, Roxas just knew that this was probably going to be the end of their meeting, and he did not want it to end there just yet. Just to prove it, he quickly stood up and approached the blonde sitting at the other end of the table, surprising her a little, and he gently grasped her hand while looking directly into her eyes with an almost longing stare. "Could you tell me just one more thing," Roxas asked, and Naminé found herself unable to do anything other than silently nod. "When we met before…were we…close?"

Naminé seemed to consider his words for a few minutes before she finally gave him a gentle smile that made Roxas's stomach do a few summersaults, and said, "I'd certainly like to think so. I don't know why, but there was something about you that made me feel…like I've always been more than what I am, or what I was born as."

That comment made Roxas return her smile with a gentle, adoring one of his own, and before he realized what he was doing, he suddenly started to lean in closer to her, until his lips came into contact with one of her cheeks. When he pulled back, he only managed to get a glimpse of Naminé's blushing face and the cute smile on it before everything went white again. The next time he opened his eyes, he found himself staring up at the mansion from the outside like he had been before his sudden meeting with the blonde girl, and judging by how hot his face felt, he had not imagined any of that. More than anything though, he could not help but think about how soft Naminé's cheek felt when he kissed her, and that thought probably would have kept him on Cloud Nine had Pence not given him a quick shake on the shoulder.

"Hey, did you see her," Pence inquired when he finally got Roxas's attention.

"Uh…Oh! Yeah," Roxas replied when he finally realized what Pence was asking about. "Watch the window—closely."

Pence did as his friend instructed, but sadly, he did not see any sign of a person in the window. All he saw were moving curtains, drawing a disappointed sigh from him. "Oh, lame. It's just the curtains moving. There must be a draft somewhere," Pence despaired, sad to see that another wonder was just bogus, or so it appeared to him. "I'm surprised this old place even has curtains."

"…Yeah," Roxas had to nod, finally accepting that for some reason, his friends were just unable to see things that he and his sister could, because he could still see Naminé standing in the window, looking down at them. He did smile a little when he thought he saw her wave to him though, something that Xion did not miss, if her smirk was any indication.

Apparently, that was not the only thing that was hard to miss, because Pence quickly took notice of another thing regarding Roxas. "Hey, are you sure you're okay, Roxas? You're face is kinda red."

"W-what?! Oh, yeah. I-I'm just…probably a little tired from all the running around we did today," Roxas quickly stated, even as he turned away to hide his blushing face. Sadly, he forgot that turning away from Pence meant that he would be looking right at Xion, and there was no way he could hide his blush from his sister even if he did try.

"Nope, that's not it. He's obviously sick," Xion informed Pence, worrying their friend a little more until she finished her joke. "Lovesick that is, and I'm sure I know who he's thinking about."

"Xion, shut up," Roxas growled under his breath, but he was not sure if she heard him over Pence's laughter.

"W-well, hehe, either way, we should head on back to the Usual Spot. Hay-Hayner and Olette, hehehe, are probably waiting," Pence just barely managed to say through his chuckles.

"Yeah, sure," Roxas grumbled, crossing his arms in annoyance as he turned to head for said spot. "Xion, are you coming," he then asked when he noticed that his sister was not following them.

Instead, Xion had turned back to face the window that Naminé was standing in, studying it closely for a few minutes before she finally said, "Nah, you guys go on ahead. I want to look around for a few more minutes to see if there's anything about this place we could learn that might make the report a little more exciting. Just because there's no girl in the window, doesn't mean there isn't some kind of mystery about this old mansion."

"Okay, but I'm not gonna hold my breath," Pence cautioned before he turned to lead the way back, but Roxas on the other hand gave her a knowing look and a nod. He had a feeling the real reason why Xion was staying behind, and he was not going to stop her. Of course, he did find himself hoping that Xion was not going to give Naminé the protective sister talk.

Once she was sure that the boys were both well away from the clearing, Xion looked straight up at the window, locking eyes with the blonde standing on the other side of it, and quietly murmured, "Okay then. You said it's my turn, so bring me in."

Barely seconds later, Xion had closed her eyes as a feeling of being lifted off the ground came over her, and when she opened them again, she found herself standing in Naminé's room, gazing at all the same drawings that her brother had just been looking over a moment ago. When she was done studying them, she looked over to where the blonde in question was sitting, smiling happily in her direction, and just in time for the artist to say, "It's good to see you again, Xion. I've really missed you."

Xion just studied Naminé for a few minutes before she finally said, "I wish I could say the feeling was mutual, but I don't really remember us being all that close or even meeting before that time a few days ago. Still, I do feel like we were friends at some point before. Weren't we?"

Naminé nodded happily, and replied, "We were. It's good that you're trusting what your heart tells you, Xion, and it's nice to see that there's still plenty of your old self inside, too."

"So, those memories Roxas and I have been seeing…they really are of a past life that we lived, or something," Xion asked, just for clarity's sake.

"Yes, and it was not something that either of you were too fond of for the most part, at least by the end of it," Naminé revealed.

"Well I understand not remembering something because it was bad, but why can't I really remember anything about it, aside from what I've seen in the dreams," Xion asked.

"…Because, I went inside yours and Roxas's memories, and…and changed them so that you wouldn't remember," Naminé finally admitted.

"What? Why…Why would you do that," Xion asked, her voice starting off as disbelieving before it steadily turned angry. "Who even gave you the right to do something like that to us? What could've possibly made you think that we would be okay with it?!"

"You did," Naminé informed her, surprising Xion even more. "You asked me to do it. You and Roxas both. You needed to hide from the group that you used to work for, and that Axel still works for, because you ran away from them, and they would've kept hunting you. They only way we could've hoped to throw them off your trail, was for me to change your memories, and slightly alter your personalities. That way, we could safely do what we needed to do in order to bring back Sora, with your help, and keep that group from interfering."

"I…I don't understand. Why would we need to do that, and why is it that Roxas and I are so important for bringing back Sora from…wherever he is," Xion questioned, her mind unable to comprehend what she was now hearing. No one could blame her though, because that was quite the bombshell that Naminé had just dropped on her, and in the process, it also raised even more questions.

Naminé's expression became saddened once again, as she repeated some of the same words that she had just said to Roxas. "Roxas and I…We're something that should never have existed, and the same holds true for you, Xion, but for a completely different reason."

Xion did not need Naminé to apologize for saying that, because she could already see the apology in the girl's eyes, and she slowly nodded in return to show that she forgave the blonde for saying that. It did still leave the big question unanswered though. "How am I different from you and Roxas, if none of us were supposed to exist like you say? And what does all of this have to do with Sora?"

"I can't answer all of that just yet. It's too soon, and I'm not sure you would be able to handle it right now," Naminé cautioned.

"Please, tell me something, anything really," Xion begged, and Naminé found that she could not deny her this knowledge.

Taking a deep breath, Naminé began to tell Xion what she could. "About a year ago, some things happened, and I was forced to take apart the memories chained together in Sora's heart. Thankfully, with my help, Sora was able to push through the damage and find at least a clue that led him to his true memories and that helped me start the process of putting them back the way they were before. Unfortunately, I soon encountered a problem. Some of Sora's memories were missing; his most precious memories at that. They were escaping through Roxas…and into you, until they started becoming a part of you. If it was allowed to go on for too long, it would have been impossible to extract just Sora's memories from you, and still leave you as you are, otherwise…"

Xion did not need Naminé to finish that last sentence to know that something bad would have happened to her as a result. It was definitely a scary thought, but she still did not understand why she was the one that Sora's memories went into, or even why they had to pass through Roxas to get into her. Apparently, Naminé saw that question coming, because she then said, "The reason why they were going into you is because that group you and Roxas used to be part of created you so that they could have a Keyblade wielder they could control, while keeping Sora from ever waking up again."

"Are you saying that…I'm not actually…?" Xion could hardly bare to think what was being implied, because to her, it sounded like Naminé was saying that she was not a real person. That she was just some sort of thing that was created in a lab, and for some reason, that horrified her even more than she probably should have expected.

"Maybe not at first, but that changed as time went on," Naminé reassured her. "You became your own person, partly because of Sora's memories, and because of something even more special that's unique to you and no one else. DiZ couldn't see it, or did not want to, but Ventus and I both knew from the moment when you started to truly gain your own identity. That's part of the reason why you left that group and came to find us, because you wanted to help Sora and still be with the people you cared about. At one time, even I thought that the only way to get Sora back in the time that DiZ wanted was for you and Roxas to go back to where you belonged with Sora, but Ventus refused to accept that. He was convinced that you could help us get Sora back without either of you having to come to harm, and that confidence was what convinced me of the same thing."

While Xion was a little more frightened now by this new knowledge, hearing that she had made an identity for herself and become a person through her own actions and doing did make her feel a little better. More than that, hearing that Ventus was so determined to keep her and her brother safe served to better bring a smile to her face, and she had no problem showing this fact to Naminé. "So then, what else can we do," Xion asked. "I mean, it there anything that we have to do to help Sora?"

"You're already doing it," Naminé insisted. "Now, the only thing that can really decide what you can do to help us, is for you and Roxas to keep making your own choices on what you want to do. As Ventus and I once told you before, you and your brother have the right to choose for yourselves, so never hesitate to do so."

Xion nodded in reply, before another thought came to her that she had to ask about, and from the smirk on her face, Naminé just knew that it was going to be something that she would feel a little embarrassed about. "So, about you and my brother…Just how close were you two, and do you have any idea why he was blushing so much a minute ago?"

In an instead, Naminé's face went completely red, and she was soon sputtering and stumbling over her words like a nervous school girl, until she glanced up at the ceiling like something had just signaled to her. "Oh wow, look at that. Our time to talk is up for now. Too bad, but can't exactly keep you here forever, so off you go. Bye-bye now, Xion. Hope to see you again sometime soon!" With that, Xion seemed to disappear from the room, and when she glanced out the window, Naminé saw the raven haired girl staring up at her for a few moments before she turned to try and catch up with Roxas and Pence. When her friend was well out of sight, Naminé finally sighed in relief as she muttered, "Dodged another bullet. Even now, after all the changes to her memory, that girl can't let up on teasing me and Roxas for one minute."

* * *

Despite how upsetting most of her talk with Naminé was, Xion actually did feel pretty good about the end result, and not just because of the slight teasing she got in at the expense of her brother's girlfriend. Well, soon-to-be-girlfriend, anyway, but that's beside the point. After all of the stuff she and her brother had been through, they finally had some answers, and while they did open up some new questions, it felt really good to have something much closer to a solid answer for once. She did not really count any of the answers that Axel had given them yesterday, considering that he was not too forthcoming on anything they did not already know, but what she learned from Naminé, and what she figured Roxas had found out, that was definitely being counted as a win in her book. She could hardly wait to tell Roxas about it all. She would probably leave out a few details to avoid upsetting her brother, but she was still going to tell him a lot the first chance she got.

Her chance to talk with Roxas about that information was going to have to wait, as she ended up arriving at the Usual Spot right when her brother, Pence, and Olette were leaving. "Hey, are you guys already finished writing the report," Xion asked as she came to a stop in front of them, her skateboard tucked under her arm after she had jumped off it.

"It was done even before Roxas and Pence got back," Olette admitted, much to Xion's surprise. "I figured that the girl in the window was going to be just like the rest of the wonders, so we went ahead and wrote down everything. Not that I completely doubted you guys would find anything there, but after everything else today…"

"Don't worry. I get it," Xion reassured. "So where you guys heading?"

"The station. Hayner's already there, and probably with ice cream for all of us," Roxas revealed, silently telling Xion with his eyes that they would talk about their respective conversations with Naminé later when the others were not around.

Xion nodded in response to both her brother's spoken and silent words, and dropped her skateboard to the ground again when Olette suddenly said something that made her pause a little. "You know…we only have two more days together."

"What," Roxas asked, with Xion turning a worried look to her friend at the same time.

"Summer vacation, remember," Olette reminded them.

"Oh…right," Roxas sighed in relief.

"Geez, don't go and say it like that. For a minute you had me thinking that some of us were going away and never coming back after vacation or something," Xion cautioned with a sigh of her own. Her face fell a little as she added, "I'd hate to end up being separated from all of you and never seeing you again."

"Hey come on. You'll still be able to see us all at any time, Xion," Pence promised.

"As long as we keep each other in our thoughts, we'll never be apart, right," Roxas finished for him.

"We've got it memorized, Axel," Xion added on with a smile, only noticing her small slip after she had said it.

"What? Who's Axel," Pence asked, clearly just as confused as Olette seemed to be.

"Uh…Nobody. I don't know where that came from. Sorry," Xion informed them, glancing away in hopes of better covering her mistake, even though she knew that probably made it more obvious she was lying.

Whether they believed her or not, neither sibling could say, but in the end, Pence and Olette seemed to accept the answer and just headed off for the station where Hayner was waiting for them. Roxas would have followed along, but like Xion, he paused for a second to exchange a quick look with her that said he had a good guess as to why she said that. Seeing that look, Xion could do nothing more than nod in return, silently saying that she did indeed think it was something from their previous lives that had slipped through just then, and with that, they both knew that they were going to be talking a lot more later on after saying goodbye to the other three for the day. They probably would have gone off to have that conversation right away, but they wanted to meet up with Hayner before anything else, so they took off after the others.

Even after meeting up with Hayner and exchanging a laugh or two with the rest of the gang though, Roxas and Xion found their thoughts preoccupied by their encounters with Naminé and the conversation that they were going to have with each other regarding said encounters. As a result, they missed a lot of what was being said, almost to the point where they were surprised that they were able to pay attention enough to know when to laugh or nod along at the right times. That quickly came to an end though, when Roxas spotted something fluttering in the wind on one of the rooftops below, and when he turned to get a better look, his eyes immediately widened at the sight of a man wearing strange armor. If he had not seen what he had in his dreams, he likely would have left it at assuming that it was the Twilight Knight that Pence mentioned earlier, but even from this distance, he could somehow tell that the armored man was the same one from his and Xion's dreams, meaning that it had to be Ventus.

Turning to Xion, Roxas saw that she was looking in the same direction, and when she felt his eyes on her, Xion turned to nod to Roxas, confirming she was already thinking the same thing that he was. There was nothing more for either twin to say at that point, as Roxas immediately jumped to his feet, making sure to be careful about it when he did, and said, "Hey guys, I think I left my skateboard at the Usual Spot, so I'm gonna go grab it and head home for the day."

"What? Are you sure," Olette asked, not wanting their group to split up for the day just yet, and it looked like Pence and Hayner felt the same way.

"Yeah. It's getting pretty late anyways," Roxas shrugged in apology.

"I'm gonna go with him, too. Don't want him to get into any trouble along the way, considering what a bonehead he can be," Xion added, throwing a little teasing in both for the fun of it, and stave off any suspicion that their friends may have.

"Okay, if you're sure," Hayner nodded. "Just remember, tomorrow, we're all gonna search the town, and then it's the fair the day after."

"Like we're gonna forget about that," Roxas chuckled in reply, and with that, the twins took off. Unfortunately for Roxas, he actually had left his skateboard at the Usual Spot, so he was not able to start chasing after Ventus right away, which ended up being necessary since they Ventus move from the rooftop they spotted him on the moment they came out the station entrance.

Since she still had her board, Xion quickly jumped on and began to chase after him, telling Roxas to call her once he had his board so that she could give him an idea of where she thought Ventus would be going. As it turned out though, they did not need to make any calls, as the armored man's route of travel actually took him right by the Usual Spot just as Roxas had stepped out of it with his skateboard, and like that, the twins were able to join together in their chase without any trouble at all. Still, it was hard to really say where the guy was going, because he seemed to be going all over Twilight Town via the rooftops, but despite that, the twins could not help but think that he wanted them to follow him. Considering what they knew about him from the dreams, they had to assume that Ventus was capable of hiding himself from someone really well if he wanted to avoid being seen, and since they were having such an easy time following him, and even finding him again when they did lose sight of him, it only made sense to assume that he was trying to lead them somewhere for some reason.

Eventually, the tour of Twilight Town ended when Ventus led them back into the woods again, forcing the twins to forego the use of their skateboards and just chase him on foot. They did not have to run too far though, because the next time they saw him, Ventus was just standing in a small clearing amidst the trees, looking like he was waiting for them to arrive. That made the two smile a little as they rushed to approach him, but their smiles were replaced with shock when he suddenly disappeared in a flash of light, much like so many other things had today. Just before he vanished altogether though, they could have sworn they heard him say, "It's nearly time for him to wake up. I look forward to seeing you both when it happens, and I'm sure he'll love to meet you guys, too."

Neither sibling was sure what to make of that, but right now, they did not waste too much thought on it. They just spent their time looking this way and that in the hopes of finding any other sign of the man or even where he could have gone. Their efforts did not turn up anything at all, until Xion noticed something on the ground where the armored man had just been standing. Bending down, she immediately scooped up a folded piece of paper, which she gently started to flatten out as best as she could, only to find that it was two papers folded together. One of which appeared to be a note from someone whose handwriting she did not recognize, but the other one definitely looked like something she had just seen earlier that day.

"Hey Roxas, doesn't this look like one of Naminé's drawings," Xion asked as she held out the picture in question for Roxas to see.

Hearing that question immediately brought Roxas to Xion's side so he could better look at the image, and he immediately nodded in confirmation when he saw that the style definitely matched that of the drawings that were scattered throughout Naminé's room. Of course, the most surprising thing was what, or rather who the drawing was of, and that was what kept him from speaking for a minute. Unlike a lot of the other drawings he saw in Naminé's room, this one was not childlike, but seemed very detailed, almost like something that a professional had created, and it displayed six figures, all wielding different Keyblades. The first two that he noticed were obviously Sora and the armored man from a moment ago, with the third being a girl with red hair that he assumed was Kairi. He was not entirely sure who the fourth person was, as they were mostly hidden by a black coat similar to Axel's, save for some blue hair that hung out from the hood, but it was the last two that caught his attention the most.

"Is this…us? With Sora and his friends," Roxas finally asked aloud.

"I think so," Xion nodded, even though she sounded just as unsure as her brother. "But…I don't recognize the Keyblades that we're holding from any of the dreams. Do you think that might be related to what Axel said about how we have been using copies of another Keyblade?"

"Maybe…" Roxas mused. "Still…who's this sixth person here? The one in the black coat with blue hair?"

"I'm not sure, but…wait, remember the dreams? When Kairi was apparently showing Sora a memory of her past," Xion questioned. At Roxas's nod in response, Xion immediately pressed on saying, "There was a woman in the memory with blue hair that said her name was Aqua. I think that might be her."

"But that's impossible," Roxas said. "All the dreams we've had so far said that she's trapped somewhere, right? And from what I could tell, Naminé's drawings all depict something from either Sora's past or ours, or even something that she wishes for, so how could…" He stopped short as he thought over one of the things he just said, and suggested, "What if…what if this is something that Naminé wishes to see? Us working with Sora and the rest of his friends, fighting to save the worlds? Or maybe even a vision of the future that she might have had?"

"Roxas, I think Naminé would have told one of us if she had the power to see the future," Xion dismissed. She then glanced back to the drawing and said, "Still, this does seem a lot more detailed than any of her other drawings that we saw, so maybe…"

"Yeah…" Roxas nodded in agreement, glad to see that she was at least considering his ideas. At that point though, he remembered why he wanted to talk with his sister away from the others, and immediately asked, "So what did Naminé talk to you about?"

From that point on, the two gave each other a quick recap of their respective meetings with Naminé, each making sure to not leave out any detail that they felt was important or needed to be shared with each other. Of course, Xion was able to share a bit more than Roxas, regarding what she had learned in regards to themselves, and their connection to Sora, but that did not mean that the blonde did not have anything to tell his sister at all. Sure, he was a little upset to hear that Naminé had messed with their memories, but considering what they had seen in the dreams of those memories, and that they had apparently asked Naminé to do it, he figured that they had some pretty good reasons. Any upset feelings he had paled in comparison to how mad Xion got when she learned how this DiZ person had called Naminé a witch, because Roxas could have sworn to the ends of the world that Xion looked like she was ready to tear the guy apart for that. She definitely seemed to share his opinion about what would be a better thing to call Naminé, but he could not really enjoy it that much considering one other thing that he told her.

"You mean to tell me, that even after you guys seemed to connect so much like that, you didn't kiss her?! Seriously, what the hell, Bro," Xion practically ranted.

"Hey! One, don't talk like that," Roxas scolded, earning him an angry pout from his sister in return. "And two, I'm not just going to walk up and make out with her out of nowhere. Just be glad that I at least kissed her on the cheek. Oops!"

"You did what?! Now that's a bit more like it," Xion grinned brightly, her rant instantly turning into a cheer.

Roxas on the other hand just covered his mouth while trying to hide his blushing face from his sister, but he somehow felt like Xion would have to be blind or in orbit of another world several miles away to be unable to see said blush. He had not intended to share that detail with his sister, mainly because he could still hardly believe that he did that himself. Really, what had he been thinking just going up and kissing her like that?! Sure, it was just on the cheek, and the way she was blushing afterwards made her look really cute, especially with that pretty smile…but that did not mean he could just go and do something like that without rhyme or reason! He barely knew Naminé, or at least, he assumed he did, and even if he did feel some kind of deep connection with her that he could not explain, that did not mean it was okay for him to just go and kiss her, even if it was just on the cheek. Still, no matter how he tried to rationalize it, even with Xion teasing him so much and so loudly right now, he could not help but admit that it felt really nice to do that, and he now had to wonder what it would feel like to really kiss Naminé.

That was a thought that Roxas quickly banished, mainly because of how much hotter it made his face and the rest of him, which he knew would only get Xion's teasing fired up to a whole new level, and decided to switch topics again. Thankfully, he managed to find something that would help with that perfectly. "What's the note say," Roxas asked, immediately putting Xion's teasing on pause as she looked at him in confusion. "The one that was with the picture? I thought I saw you holding one when I came over."

"Oh," Xion remembered, having forgotten about said parchment after she saw the drawing. She quickly pulled it out and read it aloud for them both. "Don't worry about whatever may come when its time. Just remember, despite what certain people may say, you both do have the right to exist, because you are able to choose for yourselves, and so much more than that. No matter what happens, only you can decide what you want to do going forward and you can make that choice for yourselves, not anyone else. Just like I told you before."

The two pondered those words for a minute, both of them thinking that this was definitely something from Master Ventus, but ultimately coming up short with what it could mean. One thing they did know for sure after all that had happened today was that something big was about to happen soon, and it would likely change their lives forever. They just hoped this thing could wait until tomorrow, because right now, all either of them wanted was to go home and get some sleep, so that's what they both did with tired yawns.

* * *

DiZ no longer felt the need to hear the computer's reports on Sora's progress, because he knew that by tomorrow, the young boy would be as he was before without question. With that in mind, he felt that it was time to cut off some loose ends, including Naminé, Roxas, and Xion. Apparently, his thoughts had been a little more transparent than he would have liked them to be, because Ventus quickly saw through him, and an argument had ensued in the old mansion's living room as a result, which quickly devolved into a full-blown fight between the two. Neither of them was hurt, but the rather sturdy table in the middle of the room had been completely blown to pieces as a result, and afterwards, Ventus had stormed out, promising that he would do what he had to if it meant keeping those Nobodies and the puppet safe. In return DiZ guaranteed that he would do what he felt was best for both his own goals and all the rest of the worlds, despite knowing that it would ruin any chances he would have of being in Ventus's good graces again, but even so, he was so close now that he just could not bring himself to stop at this point.

That did not mean he did not spend quite a long time sulking in the ravaged living room afterwards as a result, stewing over Ventus's last words before he had left the masked man to wallow in his dark desires and misery. "If you really believe that the only way for the worlds to be safe is for those three to disappear, or that your revenge will really bring anyone true peace, then you're a fool…Ansem the Wise."

DiZ could not even bring himself to let out a hollow chuckle in order to hide his pain, as he was busy trying to piece together when Ventus could have possibly figured out his secret identity. Had he not been as careful as he thought when in the Keyblade master's presence, or was there something inside of him that Ventus had sensed long before now? Either way, it did not matter now. His plans were going to move forward, and he was not about to let anyone stop them. Not even an old friend.

When the man in black who had introduced himself as Ansem just yesterday returned to the mansion, he found ended up finding DiZ still stewing in his misery amidst the wreckage, and while he was curious as to what had happened; he did not bother asking. He already had a very good idea as to what had caused all of this. "I can't leave you two alone for five minutes, can I?" DiZ said nothing in reply to this, so Ansem just pressed on to a different topic. Namely, one that he had been wondering about since before he left for a short time. "Why did you show them the train?"

"Because they missed the train to the beach," DiZ replied, shortly.

"Hmph…that's almost kind of you," Ansem remarked, almost sounding as though he were teasing the masked man.

"Please, spare me. I've heard quite enough jabs at my character from Master Ventus, thank you," DiZ cautioned, and it seemed that Ansem got the message, as he merely sat down in the armchair across from DiZ. "Now…what about you? Are the remaining holes in your memory starting to fill in?"

"Yes…the last of the haze is clearing," Ansem nodded, confirming what DiZ already suspected.

"The same thing is happening to everyone who had ties to Sora. Very soon, to them, he'll be like a good friend who's gone away for a year," DiZ explained.

Ansem nodded in understanding, and felt that it was high time that he asked something else of the mystery man he had been working with for so long. "I've waited a long time, and now I want to know, once and for all. What is it that you want?"

DiZ closed his eyes, stewing over the thing that had been driving him for all the past years, including this past one, and then locked eyes with the man before him as he said only one, single word in response. "Revenge."

"Revenge…" Ansem repeated, one of his hands tightening into a fist when he did. "I can see why Master Ventus would be so against that then, aside from the obvious."

"Either way, I'm sure you can agree that there are still some finishing touches to attend to," DiZ pointed out. "Despite what you or Ventus think, I'm sure you've realized by now that Roxas and Xion can no longer exist if Sora is to truly be what he once was, and that Naminé must be disposed of. Their efforts to aid in our work with Sora were splendid to be certain, but it's high time they all disappeared. Not a single one of those three were ever meant to exist, and to allow them to continue existing would only prove to be a greater danger to the worlds."

"Are you really so sure of that," Ansem questioned. "After all, it was their choice to help us, despite knowing what danger they would be in."

"Yes, I am," DiZ insisted, but there was just a small, bare hint of uncertainty in his voice that made Ansem question just how much of it he really believed. Maybe Ventus had gotten through to the man after all, but that hope was quickly dashed when DiZ asked, "What I have to know is…Can you take care of it, Ansem?"

Ansem was silent for several moments, and considering how they seemed to drag on for so long in his mind, DiZ had to wonder if he was about to betrayed by Ansem as well. Eventually though, Ansem did reply, saying, "I'll do what I believe is best for everyone."

That was enough to satisfy DiZ, and he immediately nodded in reply before settling back in his chair again. What neither of them knew was that Vents himself was standing right outside the door, listening in on the conversation ever since he had came back upstairs from sending one last message through to Roxas and Xion using his own virtual avatar. Needless to say, he did not like what he had just heard at all, and Ventus was not about to let this happen. Thankfully, he had prepared for this situation, and almost everything was in place for when he made his final move in this particular chess game. There was just one more thing he needed to take care of, and he immediately turned from the door to the living room so that he could do so, making sure to proceed as quietly as he could, a rather difficult feat while in his armor.

Thankfully, the other two seemed to be too distracted to ever notice him, and Ventus made it up to Naminé's room without any trouble. After gently knocking, the Keyblade master immediately heard the young girl tell him it was okay to come in, and upon entering, he easily spotted her hard at work on another drawing. He was not sure if it was part of her work in restoring Sora's memories, or just another show of how much she enjoyed making art, but at the moment, that was unimportant. Right now, he needed to make sure that everything he had planned was perfectly in place for when tomorrow came.

As for Naminé, she had known that it was Ventus coming in from the moment he knocked, as DiZ never really extended the courtesy unless it was early in the morning or late at night when she was most likely to be changing, and could not help but smile happily when he came in. That smile disappeared though when she took note of how quiet he was, and she knew that something was wrong or it was about to be. She was about to ask when Ventus raised a finger to silently signal for quiet, and whispered, "I'm not sure how much time I have before DiZ comes out of the hole he's wallowing in right now, so I need you to listen carefully…"

"DiZ plans to get rid of me once I'm finished helping Sora, and he intends to do the same to Roxas and Xion too, right," Naminé filled in, surprising the master a little. Naminé smiled sadly as she explained, "It was always obvious, even with his supposed promise to not harm us."

"Well you don't need to worry about that too much. I've got a plan to keep you safe," Ventus reassured her.

"You really shouldn't if it will get you into trouble with your friend," Naminé tried to tell him, but Ventus was not going to hear of it.

"DiZ is not my friend. The good man that was once my friend is buried too deeply beneath that mask to break through and see what he's doing is wrong, and not just because of his reasons for doing it. Besides, I made a promise of my own that I need to keep, and part of it involves keeping you, Roxas, and Xion safe," Ventus informed her. When Naminé nodded in thanks to him for his words and the passion behind them, Ventus knew that she was not going to argue any further, so he took that as his cue to kneel down beside her, and start explaining his plan to her, hoping that this would be the final plan he would have to enact against DiZ in order to keep such good people safe.

* * *

 ** _AN: Ya see what I mean? Not too much action happening here, even if there was a fight or two, but since they were not too important, we obviously did not go too far into detail about them._**

 ** _Xion: At least you changed a few things up from the canon story line._**

 ** _AN: That, while a bit of a given, is true. One of the most notable changes I think everyone noticed was the addition of Wonder Number 8, which I can confirm to be Ventus in his Keyblade armor, going around and keeping an eye on things, both regarding Roxas and Xion, and in making sure the Nobodies can't easily get in. And I do mean the real Ventus, and not some digital duplicate, at least for the most part. The other notable change was Roxas's encounter with_** ** ** _Namin_** ** _é_**** ** _, which again, was a bit obvious. It was pretty clear that Xion was going to be included at certain points of the two's conversation when they met again, but did you really think I wasn't going to have them get a bit closer, or have a bit more development on their romantic connection? That was kind of the whole point of me getting Roxas to at least kiss the girl on the cheek, ya know?_**

 ** _Roxas &_** ** ** _Namin_** ** _é_**** ** _: [blushes brightly while mostly attempting to avoid eye-contact]_**

 ** _AN: And then of course, there was that last little bit for our favorite twins at the end there. Namely the part where we saw them chasing after Ventus only to end up in the woods where Ven disappeared and left behind a note with one of_** ** ** _Namin_** ** _é_**** ** _'s drawings. Before anyone asks, yes, the people are as I said during the story: Sora, Kairi, Ventus, Aqua, Roxas, and Xion. You can take that as a final sign of confirmation as to who's going to be making up the main line-up for our Keyblade Legion._**

 ** _Ventus: You know, one could probably note how everyone seemed to emphasize the concept of making your own choice about something in this chapter._**

 ** _AN: Well they should, after all, that is something that I feel plays an important part in the two's story this time around, and maybe even in canon too, if one were to really think about it. More on that later though, namely in the next chapter. Let's get into the matter of Xion's talk with her brother's girlfriend. Oops, I mean future-girlfriend. No wait, I meant_** ** ** _Namin_** ** _é_**** ** _._**

 ** _Roxas: Shut up. [still blushing scarlet]_**

 ** _AN: Dude, don't deny it. We all know it's true, especially in this story. Anyways, yeah, I had to have the girls meet and talk in this chapter, so there ya go in that regard. Did Xion end up learning a little bit more about hers and Roxas's mysterious past life? Maybe. Was her talk with_** ** ** _Namin_** ** _é_**** ** _a bit more...depressing, for lack of a better word? Well, I can't help but think so. Could I have made it a little more happy or something? Not in any way that I could find, but I do like to think that I managed to end it on a high note with that little bit of teasing that Xion got in on_** ** ** _Namin_** ** _é,_**** ** _and let's not forget about how said blonde confirmed that Xion had in fact been pretty similar to how she is now before her and Roxas's memories were remodified. It's almost like it was set in stone that_** ** ** _Namin_** ** _é would be Roxas's princess, eh?_****

 ** ** _Ventus: I feel like we should mention the inclusion of the skateboards in this chapter._****

 _ **AN: What's there to really say about that? We all saw how the skateboards were such a thing in the game, so I decided to make it a thing for a reason this time around. Don't worry, the twins will be getting their own boards after getting out of the virtual town, and Sora won't be missing out on that fun either, but considering that they'll all be a little more preoccupied with the upcoming adventure that they'll be having, yeah, don't expect it to happen right away or anything.**_

 _ **Roxas: Aw phooey.**_

 _ **Xion: Roxas, please try not to talk like Donald.**_

 _ **Donald: Hey! What's that supposed to mean.**_

 _ **AN: Nah-ah-ah! Back in the pod with you! If Sora's gotta stay in there for now, so do you, Duck! [starts zapping Donald several times over while pushing him back to said pod]**_

 _ **Phew, at any rate, there's only one thing left for us to do before we can call this chapter a wrap. Everyone, Onto the Preview!...**_

 ** _Despite the words of their friends, Roxas and Xion find themselves having their last day of summer vacation after their latest round of strange dreams, and this last day is anything but an easy day of relaxation. People around them that they thought they knew for a while have either disappeared or just don't realize that they are there, passing through the twins like they are just ghosts, and when Axel appears before them again, things only get even more heated. Is the key to escaping this nightmare hidden in the old mansion with Naminé, or is there something else hidden away there that may determine or change their fates? No matter what happens from here on though, all the twins know is that this is likely the end of their vacation, and then, it will be time for something else to begin. Find out just what Roxas and Xion will uncover on their last day of summer vacation, who they will meet, and what sort of surprises they will come across, next time._**

 ** _Oh yeah, the big closer for the 6 day summer vacation is upon us, and a few more big questions are going to be answered for sure, next time, too. For now though..._**

 ** _Please read and review, and see ya real soon!_**


	6. Summer Vacation: Final Day

_**AN: Hey, look what's out now. The sixth chapter of Keyblade Legion, and the last day of Roxas and Xion's summer vacation!**_

 ** _[audience applause]_**

 ** _Yeah, exciting isn't it? The big day when so much is revealed, and things changed entirely for Roxas in canon. Which is not to say they won't change to a similar extreme for Roxas and Xion here, but it certainly won't be the same way that it did originally._**

 ** _Roxas: I'm not sure if that was confusing for anyone or not, but it does make me wonder a little..._**

 ** _AN: Well, don't think about it too much. Right now, think about the reviews we need to answer, starting with "Dragon Rider 66". To be honest...yeah, now that you mention it, it does kinda feel like Riku using darkness like he did in canon was similar to steroids or cheating, but others would also argue saying that it was like the ultimate, last resort trump card, so there's also that, but everyone's entitled to their own opinion._**

 ** _Riku: Oh come on! How could it have been cheating? I mean by that logic, Roxas being able to dual wield Keyblades without any extra help should be considered as cheating too, right? [looks around for any support, but finds none] Right? [still not finding support, and ends up crossing his arms and pouting] Shut up! I'm not pouting. I'm brooding. And you guys all suck._**

 ** _Xion: Aw...poor baby. [gives Riku a comforting hug while running her hand through his hair]_**

 ** _Roxas: Urgh. I think I'm gonna be sick._**

 ** _Riku: Shut up and go make out with Namine, dual-wield boy._**

 ** _Roxas &Namine: [both blush crimson]_**

 ** _AN: Moving on, let's get into one of the guest reviews, namely the one "Guest" from 10/15/2018. The one that asked about what Xion got from Sora since Roxas got the sync blade from him, and the one that asked Ven about how they reversed the Xion's passive absorption powers. Ventus, the latter question seemed to be directed at you if I remember right._**

 ** _Ventus: Well...at the risk of getting hit by a spoiler gag, I'll just say this: Xion is a replica made of memories, and Namine has powers to manipulate memories...Nuff said. And I'm pretty sure that's all I can say right now without the risk of getting hurt by some spoiler prevention gag._**

 ** _AN: Yeah, that's pretty much it. [mutters] Shoot! Almost got him._**

 ** _Ventus: What was that?_**

 ** _AN: [back to normal voice] Nothing! As for the rest of that same reviewer's other question...well, you'll have to find that out a little later on. No spoilers._**

 ** _Let's move on to "BlazingEdge", and his question regarding an attire change for Sora and co when they get to Port Royal. I'm sorry to say that there will be no such changes at this time. They did not technically become a real part of Jack Sparrow's crew until well after they had arrived, so giving them pirate attire for their first trips there would seem unwise. Plus, when you consider that the town was being attacked by pirates when they showed up, looking like a pirate would probably not be the best thing for them._**

 ** _Sora: By the way, to the "Guest" from 10/15/2018 who said I should've introduced myself as "First Mate Sora" to the enemy pirates in canon, I don't ever remember Jack giving me that honor, so I guess the idea never really occurred to me. Besides, you'll find that someone else gets that position this time._**

 ** _AN: GET BACK IN THE POD, BOY! You only have to be in there for this chapter, and some of the next one! You can wait!_**

 ** _Sora: [drops his head and trudges back to the pod again]_**

 ** _AN: Ahem. Now to "Neostorm"'s question about how the others will get to other worlds when the gummi ship was destroyed in the previous story. Well, it wouldn't say the solution was that big, in metaphorical terms, but it will be something that will be impressive. At least in my opinion._**

 ** _Moving right along to our old pal "Monkey D. Conan", I can't really answer anything about how Sora will awaken without Roxas and Xion refusing with him right now, as we are right on the verge of that very moment, but I can try to answer at least one or two of your other questions. First off, regarding the Drive Forms, only the kids of the Keybearers are going to get them (ie. Sora, Roxas, Xion, and Kairi), and they won't all be getting a full set. Some of them will end up not getting a Drive From that the others have, because they don't really need it that badly. You'll see what I mean when we get to that chapter. As for their outfits, the only changes that we'll see to Roxas and Xion's outfits would be that they get Keyblade armor gauntlets, and Sora's will change in a similar manner to how it did in canon, aside from how his own armor gets slightly upgraded. Same with Kairi. And yeah, Anti-Form will have something of a part to play, but that won't be until much later on down the line._**

 ** _In regards to your inquiry about Sora's abilities in comparison to Roxas and Xion, well for one thing, Sora will still be able to cast the basic level of the spells he learned in the last story, but nothing more advanced than simple Blizzard, Fire, Thunder, Aero Shield, etc., and will also still retain the ability to use his Command Styles and signature Shotlocks. He just won't be able to use them as effectively because of how long he was asleep. Sora's reception to Roxas and Xion at first will actually be the one that's typical of him, but I'd like to think that they do have a little friendly rivalry start going once they actually get started on real training. As for how Ventus will react after Sora wakes up...well, you'll see about that and the rest of your questions regarding similar events by next chapter._**

 ** _Now, in regards to the "Guest" of 10/16/2018, I don't think Ven really thought about that too much. As for your question about how Ven and Aqua would consider each other age-wise, and how they look physically in the same manner. For Ventus, he looks like he's the same age as Aqua was back in the BBS era, at least, especially when you consider he has a beard now. Aqua would more than likely still consider herself older than Ven at first, but that would mainly be because of how she had not seen him all grown up until just recently, and that was only in passing. It may take some time, but Aqua will come to accept the older Ven, and will likely just point out that she is technically older than him as a small joke or something. To be honest, I don't think they really care about that too much._**

 ** _Ven &Aqua: We don't._**

 ** _AN: So, to our pal "Anonymaton", you'll find out about that little "paradox" as you called it soon enough, don't worry. And as for your question regarding the remote I use in my studio, it's actually something I had my tech guys whip up for me, with some help from these guys over at Crazy-Gag Corp._**

 ** _Axel: That is so not a thing._**

 ** _AN: And that's my cue to hit this button. [like you really need to ask what he did next? Hit the button, obviously]_**

 ** _Axel: [suddenly drenched in water, making him freak out] AAAAAHHHHH! GET IT OFF, GET IT OFF, GET IT OFF, GET IT OFF!_**

 ** _Xion: What's wrong with him?_**

 ** _AN: His element's fire, and I just dropped several gallons of water on him. I'm pretty sure you can figure it out._**

 ** _Xion: Oooooh. I gotcha. [turns to watch Axel continue to freak out while giggling a little] I don't think he's going to stop any time soon._**

 ** _AN: Not my problem. Oh, and to everyone who posted some hate fuel on DiZ...thank you so much. It will be used to burn him at the stake ASAP._**

 ** _DiZ: [is seen attempting to sneak out]_**

 ** _AN: And where do you think you are going?_**

 ** _DiZ: Rats! [bolts for the exit with Roxas, Xion, and Namine hot on his tail]_**

 ** _AN: Well, that happened. Oh, btw, Dcraus, I'm sorry to say that I cannot accept your challenge at this time. I'm trying to avoid starting any more stories right now that I haven't already got planned in the works for some time, and as such, I'm sorry to say that I will not be accepting any challenges either. Sorry._**

 ** _Now then, enough of the silly stuff and review answering. Let's get to the good stuff! Onto the chapter everyone!_**

 ** _I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story._**

* * *

 **Chapter VI**

 _Another barrage of dreams…no, memories came in the night, and these were proving to be the most incredible yet. It first opened with a meeting that Ventus was leading where he revealed something to Sora, Kairi, Donald, Goofy, and a lot of their other friends. "The being that we encountered at Hollow Bastion and who is now possessing Riku, despite his claims is not actually Ansem the Wise. He may have been the one who had likely wrote the reports on the Heartless, but he's not the real Ansem. The truth is, he's the Heartless of someone that is as far from the kind of person that Ansem is as you can get, and is very dangerous," the blonde master revealed. "You see, there are some people who have so much darkness inside of them that when they become a Heartless, they don't lose their original form, and this particular man is one of them. I knew him long before he had became a Heartless, and I can assure you that he was far more dangerous back then than he is now. His name…is Xehanort."_

 _"Just who is this Xehanort and how is he so bad, anyway," Sora asked._

 _"Xehanort is a former, fallen Keyblade master who became obsessed with learning everything he could about the Keyblade War, and recreating the very weapon that had been the inspiration for the Keyblades. In order to achieve this, he created a being of pure darkness by extracting the darkness inside of my heart, which he named Vanitas, and once we were both strong enough, he would let us refuse and allow that weapon to be created. It succeeded for a short time, but it did not last thanks to both my own strength of will, and the efforts of my other friends. Still, Xehanort is incredibly brilliant, a prodigy of his generation, and he had several plans in place to further his goals, including fanning the dark fires in my friend, Terra's heart so that he would have a new, younger body that would allow him to survive into a new age, despite his own body beginning to reach an old age. Xehanort was my first master, before the king and Master Eraqus." There was a brief moment when the scene seemed to skip a little, to a point when Ventus asked, "Leon, do you and the others remember Ansem having any apprentices?"_

 _"Yes. He taught them almost everything he knew and they helped him with a great deal of his research," Aerith replied for the group._

 _"Well, among the brightest of his apprentices was a man by the name of Xehanort," Ven revealed. "And before you ask, yes this is the exact same Xehanort that had possessed my friend Terra and caused so much hardship to befall my friends and I. When I first met him, I was not entirely sure that he was in fact the fallen Keyblade master, and the apprentice did not appear to recognize me, but I could never mistake the darkness that I sensed from him as being anything other than that of my former master. I didn't say anything to anyone but the king when I first sensed that from him, and he decided that it was best to keep it to ourselves. Now, I can't help but wonder if we were right to do that, because I'm sure that your world fell because he did regain his memories and plunged it into darkness, while taking on Ansem's name as his own so that the good man I once knew would take the fall for his crimes."_

 _That was when the scene finally shifted to a different moment, and when the static that usually came with those shifts ended, it immediately opened with Sora and company, Kairi included, aboard their ship as they flew to their final battle. Alarms could be heard blaring all around the team, the ship was seen shaking under the force of explosions, and various things were being shouted amongst the small crew of five. Most of their cries were hard to really understand, given that they seemed to blur together, but eventually, the blended noise gave way to one specific sentence, and that was a reluctant order given by Master Ventus from his seat at the helm controls. "Everyone, get to the teleporter. Abandon ship."_

 _"WHAT," the other four all shouted._

 _"You can't be serious," Sora protested._

 _"If we do that we could get stuck here," Donald argued._

 _"And what about the_ Kingdom _? We can't just let the Heartless destroy it," Kairi added._

 _"The ship's already lost, and if we don't get out now, we'll be destroyed with it," Ventus shouted before Goofy could utter one word in agreement with the others. "We came here to stop Xehanort's Heartless, but we can't do that if we go down with the ship! I don't like it any better than you guys, but it's our only choice. Now do it! Abandon ship!"_

 _Another scene shift occurred, and this time, the three Keyblade wielders and their two friends could be seen standing inside a very dark cave. When a loud explosion suddenly rang out, the five directed their gaze upwards, and an instant later, the group's despair could be felt all around, for they were all watching in silence as the gummi ship that had served them so faithfully was destroyed. "What have I done," Ventus whispered, breaking the silence._

 _"What you had to do to make sure we could do what we came out here to do," Sora reassured his master, and though his smile did not quite reach his eyes, Ven could tell that the kid still meant exactly what he said in his reassurance of the older blonde._

 _The next scene shift saw the five looking out at a large, dark expanse of nothing, leading into a large, swirling dark vortex that rested on the opposite side of the abyss before them. It was a truly frightening sight to be certain, and the question that Goofy eventually asked made it even more terrifying for those who did not know about this place. "Gawrsh, is that all that's left of the worlds taken by the Heartless?"_

 _"It certainly looks like it," Kairi admitted, clutching a hand to her chest when she spoke. "I can feel…something from this place. A faint light that's slowly flickering out into nothing."_

 _"Don't worry. Those worlds will be restored when we beat Ansem, remember," Ventus pointed out to everyone, reassuringly._

 _Despite his master's efforts to ease their concerns though, Sora did have one major, overarching concern. "But, if we do beat him and all these worlds become restored and disconnected, what's going to happen to this place? And to us?"_

 _"Even if this place goes poof, our hearts ain't goin' nowhere. I'm sure we'll find our pals again. Yup, I just know that we will," Goofy confidently commented._

 _By the time Goofy had finished talking, the other four had lightened up quite a bit, and Ventus soon commented, "Goofy's right. We didn't come all this way just to go down with the bad guys. We'll make it out of this and reunite with our friends soon enough."_

 _"Yeah, you're right," Sora could be heard agreeing. As all of that dialogue was going though, one could also see the five traveling through this dark place, battling Heartless, and even entering a place where Ventus battled against a man in a black and white body suit and a helmet with a strange symbol that almost seemed to resemble a heart expressing emotion. The final image of the group in battle that was seen during this dialogue, was when the five were seen floating before a massive monstrosity that could only be described, most simply, as a massive demon. Considering that Ventus's face was seen paling at the sight of this beast at some points, that was probably a very accurate description, too._

 _When the scene shifted again, the five appeared to be back on Sora and Kairi's island home, but there was a dark feeling about it that indicated it was most certainly not said island. The villain that had possessed Riku standing before the group as Riku in his dark form only served as further proof of that, and one could hear him speaking as the five watched in horror as Riku's image melted away to reveal the true form of their enemy: Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. "All worlds begin in darkness, and all so end," Ansem's voice could be heard saying, while Sora and Kairi were seen apparently calling out in horror for their friend as he changed into this monstrosity. "The heart is no different. You see, darkness is the heart's true essence."_

 _Various images continued to pass by the mind's eye, all of them showing the five battling against this final opponent, and occasionally being filled what looked to be basic computer coding, and even through all of that, one could hear Sora, Ventus, and all the others speaking out against the villain's words. "I've heard this load of crap before, you know. Or did you forget that you and I have fought once before already, Xehanort," Ventus was heard remarking._

 _"Even if he hadn't, it doesn't change the fact that none of what you said is true," Sora passionately protested. "The heart may be weak, and sometimes it may even give in, but I've learned that deep down, there's a light that never goes out!"_

 _"And it's that same light that will give us the strength to stop you," Kairi finished proudly._

 _The final images of the battle against Ansem passed, with one seeing the villain fused to a massive ship, yet struggling to remain alive as said vessel exploded, until all that was left was a weakened and battered Ansem. Even despite this obvious loss, it was clear that Ansem was not quite ready to give up yet, as he turned to something that lay behind him in a last-ditch effort to secure his victory against these brave warriors. "Kingdom Hearts," he cried out. "Fill me with the power of darkness!"_

 _"You truly have no idea what you're really dealing with here," Ventus sighed sadly. "And I almost feel sorry for you."_

 _"No matter what you think, we all know that what you believe is all wrong," Kairi continued._

 _"Because we know now, without a doubt. Kingdom Hearts…" Sora lead off._

 _"IS LIGHT," the three Keybearers all finished as one, and their belief was easily proven true far too soon for Ansem's liking._

 _To punctuate the three's proclamation, a brilliant light unlike any other erupted from a massive, pristine white door that had been cracked open. That same light blinded Ansem, and given his nature as a Heartless, it proved to be incredibly harmful to him, right to the point where he was unable to do anything more than just float in the air as the light destroyed him completely. Another scene shift came, and showed the five struggling to close the massive door, with Riku joining their efforts on the opposite side as swarms of Heartless were seen rushing towards the door from behind the silver haired boy. Eventually, Ventus had stopped pushing and began backing away as he announced, "I'm_ _going to go through the door myself, and help Mickey seal it on that end while Sora and Kairi lock it from here."_

 _"Absolutely not," Donald angrily argued._

 _"You can't do that, Ven! If you go through, you might get stuck in there too," Goofy protested._

 _"Maybe, but it's a risk that we have to take," Ventus informed them._

 _"But Ven, you can't leave us! We still need you…I still need you," Sora pleaded._

 _That finally made Ventus look up, but when he did, it was only to give the boy a sad smile as he said, "No you don't, Sora. You never really needed me that much. You've had the power to accomplish everything you already have inside of you the whole time. All I really did was help bring it out and refine it."_

 _Apparently Ventus's plan did not go as he had intended, as another scene shift showed him still on the same side of the door as the rest of his four friends, while they all looked in to see a figure sporting large shoes, gloved hands, with a tail and noticeably big ears. This figure was immediately identified by Donald and Goofy as they cheered, "Your Majesty!"_

 _Another figure then appeared beside King Mickey, this one much taller and most definitely a woman, given her elegant figure and the grace with which she had landed when she appeared beside the king. Even with the bright light before her and Mickey hiding most of her features though, one could still see several hints of blue in both her attire and her hair, which obviously made it all the more easy for Ventus to recognize her. "It's her," Ventus said in a voice that was just barely above a whisper. "Aqua!"_

 _The five all then watched as Mickey produced a Keyblade that was identical to Sora's, save for the reversed color scheme, while Aqua summoned forth the Master's Defender Keyblade, and the former then shouted, "Now Sora, Ven! Let's close this door for good!"_

 _"Ven, if you even think of trying to come in here again, as sweat as that would be, I promise that I will smack you. They need you over there far more than I need you here," Aqua insisted, and somehow, Ventus just knew that Aqua was smiling almost as widely as he probably was at being able to see each other again, even if it was not in the way that they would have preferred. "Don't worry! Mickey and I have got things covered on this end!"_

 _The scene then shifted again, to the point where the five friends managed to push the door closed, with Riku pulling from the other side. As the door was closing, Ventus and Aqua's voices could be heard exchanging a few last words before losing sight of each other again. "Aqua, I have to tell you one last thing while I still have the chance. I don't care if it'll be spoiled by the circumstances, because I have to say it now," Ven said, before taking a short pause and then saying that very thing he was talking about. "I love you."_

 _Aqua could be heard gasping in surprise, and when she next spoke, one could feel all the love and emotion that was in her voice when she replied, "I love you, Ven."_

 _When the scene shifting finally paused for a moment, it was at a moment just before the door was about to close completely, and Riku was seen looking to his best friend with a smile as he made one last request of him before being separated by the door. "Sora…Take care of her."_

 _It did not need to be seen to know that Sora's reply was an affirmative, and so, the next images that passed before the mind's eye were of the door closing completely, followed by Sora and Ventus raising their Keyblades up to the door to Kingdom Hearts. One shower of lights and magic later, and they all saw the door vanish completely like it had never been there in the first place. The sound of something being locked only finalized it all for them. Their journey had come to a close and they had won the battle against the Heartless._

 _"Hey, Sora! I think I can sense the island," Kairi was then seen shouting out, turning in the direction that the feeling was coming from._

 _Sora immediately turned around as well, trying to find some clue that their home was in the place Kairi was looking towards, but not seeing anything at all. "Are you sure?"_

 _"Yeah, it's over this way! Come on," Kairi encouraged, and she immediately took off, eager to get back home again after everything that had happened._

 _While Sora did follow Kairi at first, his pace was much slower than you would expect, until finally, he came to a stop just at the edge of where their home was. The only thing was, when Sora did stop, it was not on the same side of that edge as Kairi, and she had quickly taken notice of that. Upon doing so, Kairi's smile fell, showing her confusion as to why he was not joining her on that piece of their home, but before she could approach him, the ground shook a little beneath their feet, and she quickly lost her balance. She probably would have fallen over if Sora had not grabbed her hand to steady her, but even then, he did not move to join her on the sandy beach._

 _"Kairi, remember what you said before," Sora asked as they slowly started to be pulled apart, each of them doing their best to hold onto one another until the last possible second. "I'm always with you, too. I'll come back to you. I promise!"_

 _In that moment, Kairi knew exactly what Sora was doing, and she understood, completely. Sora truly believed that the others still needed him, and even if that was not the case, he was not planning on coming back home without his best friend. As much as Kairi wanted to join him, she knew that she could not. Wherever Sora was going, he had no clue how it would end, and given what he had said, she knew that he wanted her to stay some place where he knew she would be safe. So, despite how sad it made her feel to watch him go, Kairi eventually managed to smile in reply, and assure him, "I know you will!" Just before they slipped from each other's fingers, she finally found it in herself to say something she had been trying to say ever since Sora had confessed to her in Hollow Bastion, and she was not going to hold it back anymore. "I love you, Sora."_

 _Even after their hands slipped away from each other, Sora was grinning happily over hearing Kairi say that to him, and as he slowly faded further away to an unknown world somewhere out there among the stars, he took a moment to call back, "I love you too, Kairi."_

 _At that moment, everything had faded into a white blur, and when it turned clear again, one could see Sora, Ventus, Donald, and Goofy walking along a dirt path that rested amongst grassy hills, ready for the next chapter in their journey. Of course, it seemed that there was still a problem that they had to resolve before it could go very far. "Well, now what do we do," Donald asked after a moment._

 _"We've gotta find Riku, Master Aqua, and King Mickey," Sora had replied as simply as you please, never once dropping his usual relaxed pose._

 _"But, uh, where do we start lookin' for that there door to the light," Goofy pondered aloud._

 _Sora hummed in thought for a minute before he turned to his teacher and asked, "Do you have any ideas, Ven?"_

 _When he heard his apprentice's question though, Ven could not help but think for a moment as well before he finally replied, "Well, Master Eraqus and Aqua always used to tell me that the door to the light is always much closer to you than you realize, so long as you continue to hold what's truly most precious in your heart, but I don't really think that they were talking about the door that we're trying to find. Add in the fact that Mickey, Ansem the Wise, and I spent years trying to figure out a way to get Aqua back from the Realm of Darkness without any success and, well…I really don't know. Beats the heck out of me."_

 _The scene became a little more grainy at this point, like the picture on an old television going bad, but through the static one could see the five spotting a yellow furred dog with long, black, droopy ears, and a green collar just walking across the path in front of them, and happily wagging his tail. "Pluto," Donald gasped in surprise, and upon hearing his name the king's dog immediately turned to face them._

 _Sora was about to call out for Pluto to come over when he noticed that the friendly dog had something in his mouth. "Hey, what have you got there, boy?"_

 _When Ven and the others took a look at said item, they quickly realized that Pluto was carrying a green envelope in his mouth, and it had a set of three circles formed together into one, familiar sigil sealing it shut. "Gawrsh, that's the king's seal," Goofy cheered._

 _"Hey, have you seen King Mickey, Pluto," Sora eagerly asked. Pluto's only response was to blink at them and then turn around to begin bounding down the path as fast as he could. The others all smiled at each other, taking that as a sign that they finally had a good lead on where to look for their missing friends, and Sora immediately took the lead as he waved to the others, shouting, "Guys, let's go!"_

 _"You heard the kid! Follow that dog," Ventus cheered, feeling that for once, it would be okay for them to charge ahead without thinking too much._

 _The image then became more and more distorted and hard to see after the four were seen chasing after Pluto, only just managing to get a few images of Sora wandering out along the same dirt trail some point in the middle of the night. After a moment, Sora seemed to hear something, but whatever it was could not be heard. All one could do was make assumptions as Sora turned around to glare at someone behind him, and that person could be seen wearing a black coat just like the one that was worn by the mysterious man that he and Ventus had battled in Hollow Bastion. When Sora turned to fully face him though, the man disappeared from view, only to reappear behind Sora again, and then float away to an unknown location once Sora had turned around to try and chase after him. The image was barely able to show more than static and several different lines of code, before it displayed Sora standing before a massive, brownish-gold, odd-looking castle. If Sora ever went to the castle, no one viewing these images would ever know, because a second later, the images all disappeared in a flash, almost as though someone had just cut them off._

 _When any images came through again, one could see a man sitting on a rock that rested along the shore of a strange, dark beach, while a smaller person slowly walked over to him. "I've been to see him," the seated man informed the recent arrival in a deep voice that did not seem to possess any emotion. "He looks a lot like you."_

 _When his smaller companion spoke, it was in a voice that was a perfect match to Roxas's, and that served as official confirmation of who that person was. "Who are you?"_

 _The question remained unanswered, at least in these dreams, as the next thing that one could see was Xion entering a large room from a faded-tan door. The room in question was just as white as Naminé's, with the furnishings being the same way as well, and the things that were not that color was the door that Xion just came through, and the one on the opposite side of the room. The girl looked around the room from the doorway she entered from for only a moment, and then slowly proceeded inside as she continued looking, while the door closed behind her. After a taking a few steps though, Xion came to a halt as something seemed to echo in her head, while her eyes spun rapidly about the room. Eventually, the echo turned into a loud noise that made her clutch her head in an attempt to block out the pain that was penetrating it, until she finally dropped to her knees._

 _When she heard someone approaching, Xion quickly looked up, ignoring the pain in her head for a moment, but that same headache quickly disappeared when she saw who it was that was coming over to her. "Axel…What are you doing here," Xion asked the tall redhead._

 _"I'm just here on orders, that's all," Axel easily replied. "There's nothing for you to see here."_

 _"Lies," Xion snapped, startling Axel a little at the ferocity in her voice. "This is the place I come from. I just know it."_

 _Axel was silent for a moment, likely debating how he would reply to the girl, until he finally asked, "What about your mission?" Xion did not reply and that was all that Axel needed to know that she had bailed on said mission to come here. He then walked over to help her up, and cautioned her, "Don't be selfish. You can't just throw orders to the wind like that."_

 _"Or else they'll turn me into a Dusk," Xion angrily questioned._

 _Axel's response was to shake his head with concern. "They'll do worse than turn you into a Dusk. They'll just destroy you."_

 _When Axel offered a hand to help her up, Xion did not accept it. Instead, she just glared at both him and his hand before getting up on her own and assuming, "And is that because I'm useless?"_

 _"That's not it," Axel immediately denied. Before he could get another word in, Xion started to walk past him, prompting him to reach out and grab her arm in an attempt to stop her. "Xion, go home," he then told her, almost sounding like he was begging her to listen._

 _Xion did not turn to face him. Instead she replied, "I'm remembering things. I have memories of back when I was a human."_

 _"Well stop remembering. Nothing good will come of it," Axel practically ordered._

 _That got Xion riled up, right to the point where she spun around, pushed Axel's hand off of her, and finally looked him in the eye with a look that was both desperate and angry at the same time. "I have dreams every night, and you're in those dreams, Axel!"_

 _"Then they sure aren't memories. How could I be a part of your past," Axel pointed out. "They're just dreams, that's all."_

 _Apparently that was the wrong thing for him to say, as it only riled Xion up even more. "You can't fool me! We've met before, Axel, right here in this castle," Xion insisted._

 _"No, we have not," Axel argued. He then knelt down so that he was closer to eye-level with the girl, and this time, it was not just his voice that seemed like it was begging, because his eyes were pleading with her as well as he spoke to her. "Let's go home, Xion. Don't keep Roxas waiting."_

 _Xion said nothing in response. Obviously she did not want to worry her brother, but at the same time, she was just so desperate for answers, and she was sure that this place had them. It all made her head hurt in a different way that before, but in the end, she found her choice easy to make. Looking up to Axel again, she could only ask one thing of him. "Please, Axel…you've got to help me. I need to know who I am."_

 _When Axel did nothing in response other than look at her sadly, Xion shook herself free from his grip, and then turned to run for the door opposite of the one she came in through. She did not even pause when Axel next called out to her, but she did not fail to notice that he sounded scared when he did. "Stop! Stay out of there, Xion," Axel had called out, but the girl just kept going, until she disappeared through the door._

 _The scene then shifted to a point where Xion was inside a different room, one that looked to be a lab of some kind, and as she gazed at what was being displayed in the strange orb in front of her, Xion could feel her whole world shatter into confusion. "Wh-what…" Xion finally gasped. "Then I…wasn't who I am…?"_

 _At first, she was met with nothing but silence, but that quickly changed when the sound of metal boots hitting the floor rang out behind her. When she turned around, she was greeted by the sight of the armored man approaching her. "You know, just once I'd like to come back here and not find out that someone's going through something upsetting," the armored man commented as he looked this way and that. He soon settled his gaze on Xion before glancing at the orb behind her, which he slowly approached. After looking at the information inside of it, he glanced over to her and asked, "So, this is the truth about where you came from, is it?"_

 _"Y-yes, at least, it looks that way," Xion nervously replied. "Who…"_

 _"Don't you already know? According to this, you should've have absorbed a few of Sora's memories after all," the armored man asked._

 _"I'd still like to hear it from you," Xion immediately countered._

 _The man paused for a moment, before he finally said, "It's best that I don't reveal my name right now, even if your guess is accurate. If you really need an actual name to refer to me with though, perhaps just simply 'Master' will do. Unless that's unsettling for you."_

 _"No…I guess not," Xion shrugged. "But…what should I do now? I'm not…"_

 _"If you finish that sentence with the word 'real', then I'll have to take off the armor around one of my hands and smack you," the armored man cautioned. He then placed a gentle hand on Xion's shoulder and told her. "You_ are _real, just as much as I am, as Sora is, or as anyone else is."_

 _"Didn't you see what this said," Xion asked. "I'm just a puppet. Something that somebody created so that the Organization could have a Sora that they could control."_

 _"…Well, from looking at this, it does seem that way," Master noted as he read a bit of the information aloud. "A replica, created from Sora's most precious memories, and which will be able to draw Sora's power into it through his Nobody, Roxas. Although, from what I can see, it doesn't say anything about you gaining your own appearance, or even your own identity."_

 _"What do you mean," Xion asked._

 _"When you look in the mirror, do you see Sora's face, Kairi's face, or your own face? And I mean_ your _exact face, and not something that's a perfect copy of the other two," Master questioned._

 _"I see…my face," Xion replied._

 _"And what was that drove you to come here seeking answers? Surely it wasn't just the dreams you had been having."_

 _"That was part of it, but…more than anything, I wanted to know where I came from and who I was before I was a Nobody," Xion explained. She then lowered her head as she finished, "Turns out I never even existed in the first place, and I'm not even a Nobody at all." Master sighed with a shake of his head, walked over to Xion and lightly jabbed her in the forehead with two fingers, making the girl wince a little in response. "OW! What was that for," Xion demanded as she rubbed the spot on her forehead._

 _"I did warn you not to call yourself something that wasn't real," Master reminded her. "Besides, if you really don't exist, then that shouldn't have hurt, should it?"_

 _"I don't know…But it does hurt," Xion admitted._

 _"Exactly my point. Things that don't exist can't actually feel, and more than that, they can't make decisions for themselves. You are able to do both of those things," Master pointed out to her, sounding much more like a wise teacher._

 _Xion slowly lowered her hand as she thought about that, studying said hand for a minute until she looked up and said, "I don't think I can go back now that I know all of this."_

 _"Do you want to," Master asked._

 _"…No, not really, but I don't have anywhere else to go, and I don't want to just leave Roxas," Xion finally admitted after a moment. "I just…I don't know what I should do."_

 _Master nodded in response before saying, "There's a girl in the old mansion in Twilight Town named Naminé. You should go and meet with her if you want the full truth about what is going on, and what your options are. She won't be able to tell you what you should do though, because that decision is yours alone. I'll keep anyone who comes here looking for you busy so that you can get there safely."_

 _Xion nodded in thanks for that, and immediately dashed for the door, feeling it would be better to leave this castle before she opened a Dark Corridor to anywhere. She did not plan to go directly to Twilight Town though, but instead, figured it would be safer to jump through a few other worlds first, so that she was not easily followed. At that point, the images faded into blackness, and the scene shifted to show several other points in time where Xion was seen spending time with Naminé, talking, laughing, and really just appearing to become good friends, until it came back around to a point before Xion stepped out of the mansion to face Axel._

 _When the scene stopped shifting so much again, one could see the moment when Xion properly met Riku, only it seemed like a later point in their conversation, because the first thing that Xion could be heard asking was, "So, do you hate me for taking your friend away from you?"_

 _"Nah. I guess…I'm just sad," Riku admitted, surprising the girl when he did._

 _Xion seemed to stare at him for a few moments, before she lowered her head and muttered, "I'm sorry, but…I can't go with you just yet. There's someone I need to meet. A girl named Naminé, and…I want to see Roxas again. I just know that he can help me somehow."_

 _Riku smiled in response, placed a hand on her shoulder, and revealed, "Then I guess we'll be going to the same place after all. The only question is…how soon do you want to meet with her?"_

 _Xion merely smiled back in response and the scene faded away again to another point in time. When the next scene came into view, it was showing Roxas and Xion together again, this time though, they were running through a very dark, twisted looking city that was overlooked by a heart-shaped moon, a massive skyscraper, and a castle that seemed to possess an aura that would make anyone nervous, while rain gently fell upon them and their surroundings. Behind the two, several Dusks were seen flying after them, almost like they were giving chase, until they suddenly stopped and several Heartless started to rise up from the ground around them. When the two were completely surrounded by the dark creatures, they found themselves with no choice but to try and fight, and in an instant, they both drew weapons that were a far cry from the Keyblades that they had been using until now._

 _In the case of Xion's Keyblade, one could easily see that it was_ _more sword-like with a curved, notched blade, and a noticeably sharp edge. A set of odd thorns made up the teeth and guard while the color scheme was silver and black, and the token at the end of its Keychain was almost identical to the symbol that could be seen on all of the Dusks. Roxas on the other hand was very different, as he did not just summon one, but two Keyblades. One of the two was Oathkeeper, while the other was_ _almost entirely black, save for the dark blue gem in the hilt and the chain-like design running up the length of the blade in dark grey. The second Keyblade's token appeared to be a black colored version of the crown pendant that Sora was always wearing, but that was of little concern to the Heartless, as they merely lunged forth after seeing the two spin their Keyblades around to show they were ready for battle._

 _Several Heartless were felled by one of the three Keyblades, but it did little to create any openings for the two to easily escape through. Eventually, a third person joined the fight, and his entrance was announced when a Keyblade shrouded in ice magic suddenly spun through several Heartless before returning to its owner. Said wielder turned out to be Master, who quickly leapt from the top of the tall skyscraper before sending his Keyblade flying again, this time coating it with wind magic so that he could redirect it into several targets at once before calling it back to his hand. When the Keyblade was in his grasp again, he had already landed on the ground, and immediately moved to stand alongside the other two Keybearers in the fight._

 _"You two need to get out of here! I'll keep you covered," Master shouted._

 _"Forget it! We can't leave you behind," Roxas protested as he sliced up four more Heartless with his two blades._

 _"Either we all go together, or we don't go at all," Xion added on._

 _Another shift change showed the three being joined by a third person, and this one entered the fight by throwing out a blast of dark fire at several Heartless before he landed on the ground. While his arrival was surprising to some of them, only Master seemed most surprised to see him, given how shocked his voice sounded when he announced their latest backup's name. "Riku?!"_

 _The blindfold wearing boy slightly turned to the armored man and said, "It's been too long, Master Ventus."_

 _Before the two could talk more, the fight was quickly back on, and when he saw that Riku was not using a weapon, Roxas drew back the arm holding his darker-colored Keyblade and shouted, "Riku! Catch!"_

 _Riku immediately flipped up into the air, spinning around as he caught the Keyblade that Roxas just threw to him, and then easily felled several more Heartless with a single swing using the momentum he gained from his spin through the air. The silver haired boy nodded to Roxas for the assist before they all started slicing up every Heartless around them, hoping to make an opening in the enemy encirclement. They were not very successful though, and when he realized this, Riku tossed the black Keyblade back to Roxas and said, "All of you get ready to run."_

 _"What? Riku, what're you planning," Master Ventus demanded._

 _"I'm gonna make an opening, and when I do, you need to bail out. I'll cover you as you escape," Riku explained._

 _"But…" Xion tried to say._

 _"We don't have time to argue," Riku insisted, and he then drew back his hand before unleashing a powerful blast of magic at the Heartless. Said blast proved to be quite blinding, and it was at this point when the dream finally came to an end._

 _Just before it did end though, Ventus's voice could be heard almost whispering, "The time to choose your path…has finally come again."_

* * *

When the twins awoke from their most recent dream, both of them were not springing up from their beds. Instead, they just slowly opened their eyes, and stood at a similar speed, neither of them in too big of a rush for anything, and only part of it was due to what they had just seen in their dreams. Somehow, they just knew that today was promising something that they could not avoid, something that they somehow just knew had been calling for them, and that scared them a little bit. More than that, they could just feel that there was a new feeling like none they had ever experienced before, stirring inside of them. It was not just fear, or sadness, or any of the things that they now felt after all that had happened over the past few days. If anything, it was like the truest versions of themselves was beginning to come forth after being asleep for so long.

When they both finally came into the kitchen for breakfast, they were silent for several moments, until they finally locked eyes with each other. No words were needed between them, since they both knew exactly what was bothering them so much, especially after the dreams they just had, so Roxas had no problem with catching Xion when she suddenly threw herself into his arms, crying her eyes out as she held him as tightly as humanly possible. Then again, that was part of the reason why she was currently sobbing so harshly. Learning that you are not actually human…Well, there are just no words to really describe it, and Xion never thought she would have to try and find those words. Yet now, she actually had to try and do so, but all she could really do was cry her eyes out while barely able to mutter incoherently.

"It…It can't be true. It just can't be," Xion finally muttered through her tears. "How could I possibly be just…just some…thing that someone created in a lab? Does that mean I'm some kind of…of m-monster?"

"Hey, hey, calm down, Sis. You're not just something that was created in a lab, and you're definitely _not_ a monster," Roxas whispered as he rubbed her back. He was not really sure if it was helping, because he was not entirely sure what to think right now, himself. Still, he could not let Xion suffer through something like this. "You're my sister. You're a good person with a good heart. Besides, you saw how the dreams seemed to end. Do you really think a monster would've refused to leave so much as one friend behind? No matter what anyone says, you and me, we're us, we're alive, and we decide who and what we are. Okay?"

Xion just whimpered out a small nod. She understood what her brother was saying, but she was still not done crying just yet, or at least not enough to be able to properly speak. Roxas knew this, and that was why he tightened his hold on her, hoping that she would be able to know he was silently telling her that he was going to be right here for her no matter what happened. Eventually, when Xion did calm down, she paused to dry her eyes with her gloved arm, and then asked, "At the end…we were definitely running from something, and Master Ventus and Riku helped, right?"

"Yeah," Roxas nodded. "But it obviously wasn't quite the full story."

"Well, considering we're both still here, we must have gotten away…But what do you think happened to Ventus and Riku," Xion pondered.

Roxas tapped his chin in thought, thinking it over before he answered. "Well, we know that Ventus must've gotten out okay, because we just saw him yesterday. Or at least, someone who was wearing his armor."

"That still doesn't tell us what happened to Riku though," Xion pointed out.

"Hey, if this much of our old memories have come back to us now, maybe the rest will fall into place soon, too," Roxas reasoned. "Until then, let's just…get breakfast and meet with the others."

Xion nodded in reply, not really able to think of anything else that they could do right now, and sat down at the table while Roxas quickly cooked up some eggs and toast for them to enjoy before leaving to meet with their friends. Even through the delightful smell of her brother's cooking though, Xion could still not shake the feeling in the pit of her stomach that nothing would ever be the same for them now, and even less so by the time the day had ended.

* * *

The twins ended up being a little slow in finishing their breakfast that morning, because even with Roxas's comforting words to Xion, the two were still feeling really out of things. As a result of that, they ended up arriving at the Usual Spot a little later than the meeting time that everyone had agreed on yesterday, but thankfully, any distress or sadness that they were still feeling was pretty well covered by the time they did get there. Neither of the two wanted to worry their friends about these problems, so if they had to put up a little façade to conceal their troubles, they would. Their friends had already gotten the whole town to help them out with a search for answers regarding the weird things that had been happening around the town and the two of them, and there was no need to worry them any further than that.

When they walked in, they found Hayner, Pence, and Olette gathered up in a huddle just talking, and apparently not taking notice of their arrival just yet, so Roxas decided that he should let the three know he and his sister were here. "Man, we have had a morning," Roxas commented as casually as he could. It may have defeated the purpose of putting up a front to not worrying their friends, but it would at least get the other three's attention. At least, that was what Roxas thought, but none of them so much as glanced at him or Xion. When he looked over to his sister and received an unsure shrug in reply, Roxas reached out to Hayner and said, "Guys?"

What happened next startled both Roxas and Xion, because when Roxas went to tap Hayner's shoulder, his hand ended up going right through him. The other three still did not seem to notice anything wrong, as they merely continued talking and laughing like it was just another day for them, prompting Xion to come closer and see if she had any better success than her brother. That turned out to not be the case, because when she reached to tap Olette's arm, Xion's hand went right through the girl, just like Roxas's hand did with Hayner. A minute later, the three then turned and ran right through the twins, off to parts that the two were unaware of, and the twins were left in the Usual Spot on their own. At that point, Xion noticed something on the small, makeshift table, and quickly went to see what it was. The item in question turned out to be the photo of the whole gang outside the old mansion, but there was something very different about this photo in comparison to the one she and her brother knew about, and she immediately let Roxas know about it.

"Roxas, look at this," Xion called out. "We're not there."

Upon looking at the picture in Xion's hand, Roxas saw that they really were not in the photo. Instead, it was just Hayner, Pence, and Olette standing before the gates of the old mansion. Seeing this immediately reminded Roxas of the photo thief incident, and given where that had lead them, and that the very same location seemed to have a lot happening around it, Roxas figured that there was only one thing that they could do to get some answers as to what was really going on now. "Let's head for the old mansion," Roxas determined. When Xion looked at him in confusion, Roxas explained, "That's where all of this started, where we met with Naminé, and where both this photo and the one with us in it were taken. I know it's a bit of a long-shot to say that we'll find all the answers there, but it's the only idea I've got."

Thinking it over for a minute, Xion had to admit that she was no better off than her brother in thinking of other ideas, so she easily agreed with him and then turned to join him in a quick run to said mansion. At least, it started out as a run, but the minute they stepped outside again, they both noticed that it was far too quiet for this time of day, or really any time in Twilight Town, and that made them slow their pace to a cautious walk. When they finally did stop, it was not because they saw something that might serve as a clue as to what was going with both them and the town. What made them stop was the appearance of several Dusks, blocking all of their available exits from the alley.

"Look at what it's come to," a familiar voice sadly sighed, making the two turn around to see that Axel had now appeared just outside the entrance into the Usual Spot. "I've been given these icky orders to destroy you if you refuse to come back. And just to be clear, it doesn't matter if both of you agree or not, because if either one of you says no, that one's gotta go."

"You…You can't mean that," Xion stated, uncertain and yet still feeling in her gut that Axel would not actually hurt them.

"Yeah. I mean…we're best friends, right," Roxas asked.

"Sure…but I'm not getting turned into a Dusk for…" Axel started to say, until he realized what the two had just mentioned, and a hopeful smile started to form on his face. "Wait a sec! You guys remember now!?"

"Y-yeah," Roxas hesitantly replied, while Xion just gave a similar nod.

"Great," Axel cheered, taking that as a good enough sign. At least, he did for a minute. "But, you know, gotta make sure and all. So, uh…Umm…What's our boss's name?"

"Our…boss," Xion repeated, uncertain of what that meant. When she turned to Roxas, she only received a shrug in reply, and she figured that she might as well come clean. "Axel, we don't remember everything. Just a few small bits and pieces."

"Oh…well, I guess it's better than nothing," Axel sighed, a little disappointed. "So…what do you remember?"

This time it was Roxas who answered, and he did so as he slowly reached for a stick that was lying on the ground, cluing Xion in to what he was thinking. "What we remember…is that whatever group we worked for, and that you work for…It's one that Xion and I left for a reason. More importantly, it's one that wanted to destroy Xion. I don't think either one of us are planning on going back."

All hope left Axel's eyes when he heard that, and he shook his head sadly as he muttered, "Can't believe this…"

Xion was about to apologize to Axel for their response, when one of the Dusks suddenly flew at her and Roxas. Without even thinking, Xion swung out her left arm, the Keyblade appearing in her hand as she did, and destroyed the offender the minute it was within striking distance of her. Another one quickly fell to her Keyblade in another swing, and when a third tried to get the jump on her from the side, Roxas jumped in with his own Keyblade and cut it down before it could harm her. The two then launched a combined assault against the last Dusk, and believed that to be the end of it, when suddenly; a new silver creature appeared that, while similar, was still very different from the Dusks.

The new enemy did still have a humanoid body like the Dusks did, except for the fact that the bodysuit that it was covered in was purple and silver, and its arms appeared to be segmented and lined with four blades that looked similar to the spikes on the logo that they had seen on the Dusks' heads. They then watched this new creature dive into the ground, and then extend its long arms up to slash at them like a pair of long blades. Luckily the two were able to avoid said attack, but they were unprepared for the moment when it suddenly jumped out, compacted itself into a floating disk that they could not help but notice looked similar to Axel's chakrams, and then flew at them like the redhead's weapons did. Xion managed to deflect the beast in a manner very similar to the one she had used in one of her previous dreams, and that gave Roxas the chance to jump in and grab it, before spinning around to throw it back down on the ground, making it explode the minute it hit the cement.

Xion then turned her attention to Axel, only to see that he had summoned his chakrams in preparation to fight them. "Please Axel," Xion begged. "Don't make us fight you."

"…Sorry kiddo, but I don't have any other choice," Axel replied, and he drew back in preparation to throw one of the chakrams at them.

Roxas and Xion were both on their guard for the moment when he did throw them, but the attack never came. In fact, Axel appeared to have stopped moving completely right after he had drawn his arm back, and when Roxas moved closer to get a better look, he saw that was exactly the case. More than that, Xion quickly noticed that everything was now completely quiet, as she could not even hear any birds chirping, or even a faint gust of wind. It was like someone had hit pause on the town once again, only this time, it had the added effect of making everything seem like it had turned into a complete and utter ghost town. At that point, they heard a familiar voice echoing around them, and it was one that they were not too eager to hear from again.

"Roxas, Xion, to the mansion," the voice of the man in the red mask commanded. The same man that they had come to assume was actually DiZ. "The time has come!"

Neither of them wanted to listen to the man, given what they had heard about him from Naminé, along with the uneasy feeling they now had in their guts, but right now, the mansion did seem like a much safer place that this alleyway was. Besides, they were already going there anyway, so they both gave Axel's frozen form one final, apologetic look before they turned and made tracks for the woods, and the building that rested beyond them.

* * *

Any fear that the twins felt right now was more over how empty the town had suddenly become than it was regarding the Dusks that were now appearing very frequently in various attempts to try and destroy them. Sure, it was better than moving through a town full of people that were as still as statues, but seeing a bustling city like Twilight Town suddenly become deserted like this was far too unsettling for their liking. They were honestly wishing that they could hear the candy shop owner's cat meowing, or see a friendly wave from Biggs at the armor shop, but there was just no chance of that happening, because everything from the streets to the buildings were completely empty without a soul in sight.

Thinking of how empty the town was only served as more of a reminder on where they needed to go, which was why they made it to the mansion in what could easily be considered record time, at least without the use of a skateboard. The only problem was that, as usual, there was absolutely no way to get into the mansion. The gate was locked shut as always, there was no way they could have climbed the wall quickly enough, and considering that a small squad of Dusks had just appeared behind them, they obviously did not have any time to look for another way inside. Apparently the Dusks also realized that the two kids had run right into a dead end, because their approach towards the two became much slower afterwards, like a predator that was savoring the moment before it pounced on its prey, and they way they were slinking around right now definitely made Roxas and Xion feel like helpless, small animals before a large, mighty predator.

"Come on," Roxas groaned. "Don't call us and then lock us out."

The minute Roxas mentioned locks, Xion's mind went back to one of the few, specific things that they almost always saw in their dreams, and it may have been a little silly, but she figured that they really did not have much to lose right now in trying it. So, she quickly fired off a quick blast of the ice spell she had quickly become very good at, and then jumped back from the gate a little as she summoned out the Keyblade. "Roxas," she called as she aimed the blade at the lock on the gate.

Roxas just nodded in reply, having thought of the same thing as his sister, and copied her actions, save for the spell casting, so that he was also aiming his Keyblade's tip at the gate's lock. At once, as if on instinct, the tips of both Keyblades flashed with a sphere of light before they fired a beam into the lock that quickly opened it up, making both the lock itself and the chains that it was holding together drop to the ground. With the lock removed, the gates slowly creaked open, allowing entrance to the mansion, and the twins immediately raced to the door just as a new group of Dusks materialized to pursue them. The silver creatures would have continued after the twins had the pickpocket not suddenly appeared in their path, blocking the way to Roxas and Xion, and then raised his odd-looking, demonic-wing-shaped sword to the monsters as if to challenge them.

Xion quickly took notice of this, and upon seeing that sword he was using, her mind went back to several points in the dreams where they had seen Riku wielding a weapon just like that. Seeing this man use it made her even more certain that this person was Riku, and she wanted to try and help him. That idea was cast aside though when the man called out, "Go Xion! I can handle this! You and Roxas just get inside!"

Hearing those words suddenly brought back a memory to Xion from that battle she and Roxas saw themselves fighting along with Ventus and Riku in their most recent dream, and she could not stop herself from repeating the same words that she had back then. "No, we can't just leave you behind, Riku!"

The man was silent for a moment before he turned towards Xion and said, "First off, I'm not Riku. I'm just a castaway from the darkness. And second, this isn't the time to argue. Just go and do what you have to do."

Xion refused to believe that first claim, and probably would have argued against both that and his second statement had Roxas not suddenly grabbed her by the arm and started pulling her towards the mansion. "Come on, Sis! If the guy says he can handle it then let him handle it," Roxas insisted. "We need to get inside if we're going to put an end to this."

She looked between her brother and the taller man, unable to really bring herself to actually keep going at the expense of someone else, but she knew that the two boys were right. So, reluctantly, Xion nodded to the man she was so sure was Riku and then continued to follow Roxas into the mansion, tears slowly falling from her eyes as she went. This just seemed far too familiar to something inside her that felt equally unpleasant to her. She would have said it was in her heart, but now, she knew that could not be the case. After all, she was just something that somebody created, so did she even have a heart of her own? Well, if the dreams of her and Roxas's old lives were any indication, they probably did not, and that made her tears start to fall a little faster.

When Roxas noticed this, he gave Xion a gentle shove, letting her know that he was still here for her, before nodding forwards, indicating that they had stepped into the mansion, and Xion took this time to glance around at the interior of the mysterious old building. The foyer was definitely showing plenty of signs of how long the mansion had been abandoned, as there was quite a bit of dust on several different surfaces. Somehow though, the twins doubted it was as much as there should be. In the middle of the foyer, there was a model of a castle inside of a glass case that was slowly falling apart. Looking to the right, they could see that a door had been completely blocked by fallen rubble, while the one on the left was clear. When Roxas peaked in, he saw what appeared to be a partially destroyed living or dining room of some kind, but no sign of anyone being inside, recently or at the moment. Still, they were sure that there was someone here waiting for them to come by, just like Naminé was.

Thinking of the blonde girl immediately helped Roxas to remember that her room was up on the second floor, and he quickly ascended the stairs to the second floor, turned left and raced for the room that he knew to be hers. He paused at the door though, thinking it would be rude to just barge in on Naminé out of nowhere, assuming she was inside. After all, what if she was getting dressed? Still, he took his sweet time building up the courage to just raise his hand up to knock, and Xion was not too willing to wait this time, so she barged in ahead of him. Roxas would have scolded her for doing that, but when he saw that there was no one inside but his sister, his words died in his throat. Once he joined Xion inside, the twins had to take a moment to marvel at Naminé's drawings once again.

As the twins looked around, they could not help but think once again that, while the blonde girl's drawings may have held a childlike quality to them at times, there was so much feeling in each one of them that they were all incredible works of art that deserved the attention and adoration of the world. Sure, the two had seen a lot of these places and scenes in the dreams that they had been having, but even if that were not the case, they were confident that they would still be able to feel every last detail of the emotions that went into each scene that Naminé had drawn. The heat from the city in a desert that could only have been Agrabah, the calm of the starry night beneath the trees that were clearly from the Hundred Acre Wood, the sense of foreboding in a place of vast knowledge that was obviously the castle library in Hollow Bastion, and even the simple drawings of specific people standing together communicated the feelings that were in those moments along with Naminé's feelings as she drew each picture. After a while, it was not any of the pictures that they had already seen that drew the twins' attention. Yes, they did pause for a minute to study the picture of them standing on either side of Sora for a little longer than the others, but what really got their attention was an image of them on the other side of the dresser, dressed in black coats and apparently running through a darkened place.

As both twins studied this new addition to the artworks on Naminé's wall, their heads suddenly began to hurt quite a bit, while a faint ringing seemed to build up in their ears, and a moment later, a new, or more specifically, an old memory suddenly came back into their heads.

* * *

 _It was nighttime in the dark city that lay beneath the Organization's headquarters, or at least the closest thing that came to night in this place that was always beneath a dark sky with the only lights being the ones from the buildings, the castle, and the heart-shaped moon, and after the grueling fight he had just been through against Saïx, Roxas was actually very grateful for the calm sense that the night air brought to him in his march through the streets. That calm was quickly dissolved though when he noticed a familiar redhead leaning against the wall alongside the street he was walking down, and it took little thought for him to figure out that the man who claimed to be his best friend had been there waiting for him. Roxas paid him no mind at first, electing to simply keep walking by without sparing more than that first glance, but ultimately had to stop when he heard Axel speak up._

 _"Your mind's made up," Axel somberly questioned, his voice indicating how much he hoped that it was not._

 _Roxas had to disappoint the redhead, and only spared him a few words. "Why did the Keyblade choose me and Xion? I have to know, and more importantly, there's something that we both need to do."_

 _That got Axel to jump off the wall and drop his usual, calm stance in favor of a really angry yet worried one, while he snapped, "You can't turn on the Organization!"_

 _The scene faded out after that, clearly skipping over what came next, but only by a few minutes or so, because the next thing that was seen was Roxas rounding a corner, and seeing Xion waiting for him, leaning against the similar to the way Axel had just been before. Upon seeing Roxas arriving, Xion smiled a little bit, stood up straight, and asked, "Are you ready?"_

 _Roxas did not answer right away, and after a minute or so, he finally asked, "Just tell me this: are you absolutely sure about this?"_

 _Unlike her blonde brother-figure, Xion did not hesitate in her answer. "Yes. Sora needs us if he's to ever wake up again, and the only way we can help him is if we go to him now."_

 _"But what will happen to us afterwards," Roxas asked. "Do you think that these people will…?"_

 _"No, they won't," Xion promised. "I'm sure of it. Master gave me his word that we would still be us when it was over and I think we can trust him."_

 _"…Okay then," Roxas nodded with a smile. "Let's go help Sora, and make up for all that we've done to help the Organization."_

* * *

When the memory flash ended, the two found that the pain in their heads had finally ended, and they were able to stand up straight again. The moment that she had done so, Xion felt a set of eyes watching them, and immediately turned around to see Naminé seated in her usual spot at the table in the middle of the room, gazing at them with kind, caring eyes. Tapping Roxas's shoulder, Xion immediately brought her brother's attention over to the blonde girl, and a small smile quickly slipped onto Roxas's face when he saw her before he thought about what they had just seen in that memory just now.

"Organization XIII…," Roxas started.

"They're a bad group, right," Xion finished.

"Bad or good, I don't know, but from what you two told me, they're certainly not taking actions that would be considered very good," Naminé informed them. "They're a group of incomplete people, Nobodies like you and me, Roxas, and they wish to be whole. To that end, they're desperately searching for something."

"What," both twins asked.

"…Kingdom Hearts," Naminé hesitantly replied.

"But I thought that Sora and his friends sealed Kingdom Hearts away," Xion recounted.

"They closed one door to darkness, one that led to a Kingdom Hearts, but it was not the true one of legend. From what you two once told me, Organization XIII is not looking for the true Kingdom Hearts either. They're looking for a different one," Naminé corrected. She had expected that new information to either worry or upset the twins, and she would not have blamed them if that was the case. After all, she had seen Sora's memories of the Kingdom Hearts that the wielder of Kingdom Key had sealed alongside of Ventus, King Mickey, and Aqua, and even just the memory of that gave her chills. What she did not expect was for Roxas to suddenly let out a short laugh. "Funny?"

"No, not really. It's just…I think—we've been running away from the question we really wanna ask," Roxas admitted. "What's gonna happen to us now? I know that we came here to help Sora, but I feel like that's just about done, so what will happen once we're not needed for that anymore. Just tell me that. Nothing else really matters anymore."

Naminé studied Roxas closely, saddened that he would really think that there was not anything else in his life that could matter now, and then turned to Xion with a question that was clear in her eyes before she even voiced it. "What about you, Xion? Do you feel the same way?"

Xion did not say anything at first, clearly thinking about the answer to that inquiry as well, before she finally replied. "I want to know, too. I don't want to think that nothing else matter for us, but I still feel like we have to hear for ourselves what will happen once this has all ended," she stated with a somber expression that she was hoping had kept any worries she had about the matter hidden. She doubted that it worked though, since it was clear from some of her recent memories and dreams that she and Naminé were once really close friends. "Please, tell us if you know anything about that."

Naminé gave them both a small smile when she heard that, and proceeded to do as the two had asked. Before she got more than two words in though, she suddenly stopped short, making the twins look at her in confusion. When they did, they saw faint lines of light crisscrossing over her as she broke down into small, square pieces and then disappeared, much to their astonishment. Their first thoughts were to assume that they had not been talking to the real Naminé just now, but then again, she sounded and acted so much like the real Naminé that they could not have been too sure of that. It might have been an avatar of some kind that Naminé had been using to talk to them from somewhere else, much like when she had appeared in Roxas's dream the other night, but they could not spend too much time thinking about it, because just after Naminé had completely disappeared, the masked man from the Struggle tournament teleported into the room in the exact same manner that he had appeared that day. One look at him and both twins felt a deep sense of anger and distrust build up inside of them, and it was all directed towards this man. When he spoke, they quickly figured out a good reason why they would feel that, because his words were far from kind.

"There's no knowledge that has the power to change either of your fates," the masked man decreed, sounding like he was someone who could order them around like a master to a servant. "To be quite honest, one of you should've met their fate quite some time before now."

"Who're you to say that? What even gives you the right to decide it for us," Xion demanded.

"Besides, even if it doesn't, we wanna know. We have the right to know," Roxas insisted, repeating words that he had spoken in a previous dream without entirely intending to.

"A Nobody doesn't have a right to know, nor does it even have the right to be," the masked man scoffed derisively. He then scowled a little as his gaze fell to Xion, and added, "A puppet such as you has even less of a right for either of those things."

"I am not a puppet," Xion retorted. "I'm a living person, just like my brother, Naminé, Riku, and even Sora."

"Besides, just what IS a Nobody," Roxas asked.

The answer to his question, and the masked man's counter to Xion's belief, went unsaid, as the hooded pickpocket suddenly teleported into the room in a burst of shadows, looking more than a little tired. "DiZ, we're out of time. Too many Nobodies! Master Ventus is doing what he can to hold them off, but even he can't last long against such odds."

DiZ merely nodded in reply and seemed like he was about to leave when another dark portal opened up, allowing Naminé to enter the room once more, and both siblings could tell from looking into her eyes that this was in fact the real Naminé. More than that, they could tell that she was determined to finish what she started no matter what, and they were sure that she was going to get into trouble with these two if the nervous glances she threw at DiZ were any indication. That did not stop her though. "Roxas. Nobodies like us are only half a person, while replicas like Xion were meant to be empty shells that are programmed with specific characteristics that could mimic others," Naminé revealed. "But you've both become more than that. You're both already whole, and you don't have to disappear to become that way."

"We don't have to…What do you mean disappear," Roxas asked.

DiZ quickly turned to glare at Naminé before marching over to her as he growled, "No further outbursts!"

"You never would've disappeared to begin with! DiZ would've…" Naminé tried to say, but she was cut off when DiZ grabbed her and slapped a hand over her mouth, muffling the rest of her words.

"Let her go," Roxas shouted before dashing around the table to charge at DiZ. He never reached the masked man, as the pickpocket moved in between them.

"Get out of the way, Riku! We have to help Naminé," Xion shouted as she moved to try and blast DiZ with an ice spell. She did not want to blast Riku as well, but if he was going to get in their way, she would.

"You really want to put Naminé at risk, Xion," the hooded man questioned. That made Xion realize just how risky it was to try and cast her spell right now, and she slowly lowered her hand in sadness.

"Well you can't expect us to just stand here," Roxas hotly argued, but the man they suspected to be Riku still did not move.

After struggling against DiZ for a few more moments, Naminé finally got his hand off her mouth, and locked eyes with the blonde boy across from her so that she could tell him one last thing. "Roxas, don't worry about me. I'll be fine, and we will meet again, and then we can talk about everything. There's a chance that I may not know it's you, and you may not know it's me, but we will meet again one way or the other. Someday soon. I promise!"

"Wait! Let her go," Roxas shouted as DiZ pulled her back through the portal she came from, but the masked man just kept going, until they were both out of sight and the portal closed behind them.

Xion fixed an angry glare on the tall, hooded man still standing in the room, and angrily shouted, "You were right before. There's no way that you're Riku! He wouldn't have let DiZ take Naminé like that, knowing he was likely going to hurt her!"

The hooded man looked at Xion before he replied, "I did try to warn you about that. Besides, what makes you so sure that he will even get the chance? After all, Naminé did promise that you would all meet again, and she would not have said that if it weren't true."

"What do you mean," Roxas asked, but the man simply summoned his own portal and stepped through it. "Wait! What do you mean?!"

In that instant, both of the strange men were gone, Naminé along with them, and Roxas found all strength in his legs leaving him as he sank to the floor. He pounded on the ground a couple of times in frustration, hating the fact that he could not do anything more to help her, and Xion was unable to do anything to try and help him feel better about this since she was almost just as upset about the whole thing too. Of course, she was also really upset about the man she suspected to be Riku just letting it happen, but at the moment, seeing Naminé getting taken away like that just hurt a lot more for some reason. At that point, she finally noticed that there was a sketchpad resting on the table. Thinking it was Naminé's, Xion walked over to have a look inside, and found something in it that was truly touching.

"Roxas, you might want to take a look at this," Xion informed her brother, bringing the sketchpad over to him when she did.

Roxas turned to see what his sister was going to show him, and gasped when he saw a picture of himself and Naminé sitting outside the Tasty Treat Parlor enjoying ice cream together. Flipping to another page, he saw another image of Naminé and Xion spending time at the Tram Commons, and a third page depicted all three of them together on Sunset Hill. As he continued flipping through the pages of the sketchpad, he saw more and more images of the three of them spending time together and basically hanging out like good friends, until he finally reached a point where he found a few pictures of him and Xion with Sora as well. There were a few times when Riku showed up in the pictures, mostly with Xion, Roxas noted, but a good majority of the rest had Sora and Ventus in them along with themselves and Naminé.

Turning to another page, Roxas quickly started to find pictures of him and Xion spending time with Axel. Many of them were up on the clock tower and eating ice cream as they watched the sunset, but there were also a few times when they appeared to be doing other things as well. There was an image of the three having fun at the beach, and one where Roxas looked to be teaching Axel how to skateboard while Xion watched. Considering how she appeared to be doubled over in laughter while Axel's arms were held out at his sides, Roxas figured that it must have been a very ridiculous sight or just not going very well for the tall redhead. Turning to another page, Roxas saw a picture of the three of them apparently flying over an island, with a small fairy right beside them, and then came one last page where he saw all three of them standing ready against some kind of monster, clearly prepared to do battle against it.

"These look like Naminé's attempts at preserving the memories of our days with Axel," Roxas finally whispered. "But what about these other pictures?"

"Maybe their how she remembers the days after we came to see her," Xion suggested. "Or maybe…they're what she wished for. A chance for her and us to all spend time with people that she believed could be good friends for each other."

Whatever Roxas's response was, Xion could not be certain, as another headache suddenly flashed through her head, bringing another forgotten memory back into her mind.

* * *

 _"Welcome back, Xion," Naminé greeted with a smile. "Where's Master?"_

 _"He's just in the other room, resting. We had to go through quite the fight in order to get away," Xion explained with a smile, just as she wrapped the blonde girl in a tight hug. When she pulled back, she continued smiling, but this time there was an even greater hint of happiness in said smile than Naminé had seen since she first met the raven haired girl. "More importantly, there's someone I'd like you to meet," Xion announced, waving for someone behind her to step forward. "This is Roxas, the best brother I ever could've asked for."_

 _When Naminé turned to Roxas, a small gasp quickly escaped from her, as she found herself completely entranced by the boy before her. He was even more handsome in person than she had imagined, and his blue eyes seemed to have a shine that was all their own, despite whatever dullness there may have been. Roxas was no better than her, as he could not take his eyes off of this blonde haired girl in a white dress. Looking her over from head to toe, Roxas found himself wondering how something could be so beautiful and cute all at once, and that must have rendered his ability to speak very limited, because he found that he could just barely stutter anything in greeting to her. That was something he could not remember ever having trouble with before, but there was something about Naminé that seemed to make his stomach do summersaults in a way that made him wonder if he should be concerned for his health._

 _"Um…H-hi," Roxas finally managed to choke out._

 _"H-hello, Roxas," Naminé greeted in return, not doing much better than the boy in front of her, considering that her rosy cheeks turned a little more red as she smiled at him. "Xion told me a lot about you."_

 _"Oh, r-really," Roxas asked. "Well, I hope they were all good things, like what she told me about you when I asked. But she didn't tell me that you were so pretty." Roxas cringed a little after that last bit before he asked, "Did I just say that out loud?"_

 _"Yeah, y-you did," Naminé stuttered, now very red in the face, while one of her hands absently played with the hair that was hanging over her shoulder in a nervous manner. "But…I don't mind. I…I think you're really handsome as well."_

 _While the two blondes were busy making stuttering fools of themselves, though ultimately bringing smiles to each other's faces in the end, Xion could only look back and forth in bewilderment, trying to process what was going on with her friends. After one last look from her friend to her brother, it all started to come together in her mind, and Xion quickly began to smirk a little at this new knowledge. She tried her best to hide it though, but it was just so cute that her efforts ended up failing, ultimately leading to the moment when Roxas did take notice. When he saw her grinning that way, Roxas went from a stuttering mess of a fool to very suspicious, which made his next question quite obvious. That did not mean he was sure if he wanted to know the answer._

 _"What's with that smile," Roxas questioned._

 _"I don't know what you're talking about," Xion immediately denied, but it only further proved to Roxas that she was up to something._

 _"Uh-huh. Spill it, Sis. What are you thinking?"_

 _Seeing as her brother figure was not going to let up, Xion just shrugged and turned her grin to both him and Naminé when she replied. "Nothing really. I was just thinking about a certain song."_

 _"What song," Naminé asked, more curious than suspicious, but she probably should have been, otherwise she might not have asked._

 _"One that goes a little like this," Xion answered, before singing said song. "Roxas and Naminé sitting in tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G."_

 _Both blondes were blushing up a storm again after that, and were quickly sputtering excuses on why that was not the case. Not that Xion believed any of them, as her arguments in support of her suspicion quickly proved, and their little bouts of fun continued on until Master finally entered the room, likely smiling at the three under his helmet until he felt that he needed to break it up. There was still a lot of work to do after all._

* * *

When the pain passed, Xion had a smile on her face, happy to have remembered that particular moment in their history with Naminé, for more reasons than just the teasing opportunities that it opened up to her, and she then looked to her brother who was still skimming through the sketchpad, as she said, "You should keep that." When Roxas turned an astonished look to her, having paused on a page that contained the only image that was not of people, but instead, a strange collection of symbols, she explained, "It only seems right that you have something to remember her by until we see her again like she said we would. Or rather, when you see her again, considering that she seemed a lot more interested in meeting up with you again than me."

Roxas rolled his eyes at that last remark, knowing that Xion was just joking around a bit when she said it, and quickly began scanning the room for something. When his eyes finally came to a stop, he quickly moved over to pick up one of the drawings and held it out to Xion. Upon accepting said drawing, Xion gasped a little at the sight of the people in it, because recognized each of them at once. Standing alongside each other in the picture, hand-in-hand, going from left to right, were herself, Riku, Sora, Kairi, Roxas, and Naminé. If the sketches in the blonde girl's sketchpad were not something she wished for then this definitely was, because it was a wish that Xion would certainly want to share with her.

"If I get the sketchpad, you should at least have that," Roxas explained, making Xion look back over to him. "It's only fair that you get at least one of her drawings, since you two were friends before I had ever even met her."

Xion smiled for a minute, glad that Roxas would think of her like that, before she asked, "Are you sure, Roxas?"

Roxas nodded in response, his smile never fading, as he stated, "Only the best, for the best sister I ever could've asked for."

That was what did for Xion, and this time, when she wrapped Roxas in the tightest hug she could muster while crying into his shoulder, she ended up shedding only tears of joy. Roxas was happy to share in the feeling of her happiness, but he still wished that they could have done something to help Naminé all the same. Even so, if Naminé was so sure that they would meet again someday then he was inclined to believe her. After all, she had not given them reason to doubt her before, so he did not think she would start now. When they finally released each other from their hug, the two prepared to leave again, only for Roxas to pause for a minute and then move over to where some scattered crayons lay on the floor.

Xion immediately quirked an eyebrow at her brother, before he handed her a sea-green colored one while he pocketed a yellow one as well. "I think Naminé would like to have at least one or two drawing utensils when we see her again," Roxas explained. "After all, she does really like to draw a lot."

That got a small giggle out of Xion before she nodded and pocketed the crayon her brother just handed her as well, and with that, the two turned and left the white room, ready to search the rest of the mansion, while keeping an eye out for any sign of clues that could help them find out where Naminé had been taken. They were not quite ready to give up on saving her from whatever DiZ had in mind for her just yet.

* * *

As it turned out, there was only one other room for them to search, and that was the library. Inside of said room, there did not appear to be anything of significance other than the various books lining the shelves, a statue that stared down at the floor, and a single table, but after all they had been through in the past few days, neither sibling was willing to take anything at face value. Thanks to that skepticism, Roxas was able to recognize the drawing on the table as the last one he saw in Naminé's sketchpad, and he quickly pulled out the crayon he had grabbed from her room to add in the missing symbols. When he was done, the floor beneath the table vanished, revealing a staircase that led down into a steel-grey room, and it definitely did not appear to be like something that had originally been part of the manor.

Now that they knew this was here, the two figured that this was where they should head next, and immediately descended down into the secret room, where they found an empty computer lab of some kind, with a strange device sitting next to the very complex computer. As she continued to look around in awe, Xion felt like she had just stepped into a science fiction movie, but at the same time, there was something about this place that stirred up an ill feeling in her chest. Glancing over to Roxas, Xion quickly realized that he was feeling the same thing, but in his case, it was more than just a bad feeling. It was something that was obviously making Roxas very upset, as his glare seemed to indicate. Just before Xion could ask her brother what was wrong, another splitting headache hit them both, and with it, another old memory resurfaced.

* * *

 _The memory picked up at the point where their dream had left off, showing Roxas, Xion, Master Ventus, and Riku battling against an endless swarm of Heartless, until Riku suddenly shouted for them to get ready to run. It reached the point where Riku said that they did not have time to argue and unleashed a blast of powerful magic, only this time, it did not completely blind the mind's eye and end there. Instead, they saw that an opening was in fact made in the enemies' formation that Master Ventus quickly led the other two through as fast as he could. Xion was still reluctant to leave though, as she kept glancing back at where Riku was still fighting. Every time she did, she silently wished that Riku had moved to start following them, only to be let down each time when she saw him getting farther and farther away._

 _Eventually, it caught Master Ventus's attention, and he insisted, "Xion, I don't like it any better than you, but Riku's giving us a chance to get away. We have to use it now, otherwise the Organization will get us all, and the worlds are doomed."_

 _"…Okay," Xion finally nodded. "But where do we head to first? Won't the Organization will be able to follow us if we use any Corridors of Darkness?"_

 _"Not so long as you're wearing those coats, and not if you were to make several jumps between multiple worlds," Ventus pointed out._

 _"But what about you? You're not wearing a coat like ours," Roxas pointed out._

 _"I'll be fine. This armor isn't just for show, kid," Master Ventus reassured him. "Now let's go!"_

 _That was the last thing they heard Ventus say, before they heard someone yelling really loudly as a powerful surge of darkness erupted from behind them. Whatever it was though, they could not say, both because they were already rushing through the portal, and because that was where this part of the memory ended before jumping to the next scene. That scene was the moment after Xion had battled Axel outside the old mansion. The redhead in question was down on the ground, clearly defeated, while Xion panted heavily in exhaustion before stumbling back inside where the others were waiting for her._

 _Everyone from Master Ventus, to Roxas, to Naminé, and even DiZ, along with a tall man in an Organization coat that kept his hood up, were all waiting for her. Sure, she was a little concerned about the last one, who had clearly arrived very recently, but there was something about him that told her he was not an enemy. Her first thought was that this man was Riku, but then again, even Riku was not that tall, and this guy seemed to tower over almost all of them, save for DiZ and Ventus, whom he was only slighter taller than by a few centimeters at best. Whatever the case, she had to put it aside, as there was a much more important matter to deal with, and they could not put it off any longer._

 _"The Organization will be coming back for us soon, so long as that puppet and Sora's Nobody remain here," DiZ informed everyone, already racking up points on the scale of how much Xion disliked the guy once again._

 _"She's not a puppet," Roxas growled, clearly feeling the same way. "And I'm me. Nobody else."_

 _"We know, Roxas, and as badly as he had put it, DiZ does have a point. It's not as safe here for you two as we originally thought it would be," Ventus calmly informed him, hoping to diffuse any explosions before they could go off. "More importantly, if they find out that Sora's here, there's no telling what they could do."_

 _"So what are our options," Xion asked._

 _The hooded man glanced around the room as everyone silently thought this over, before he revealed, "DiZ, aren't you working on a virtual copy of this town? Why not simply hide them in there?"_

 _Everyone other than DiZ seemed surprised to hear that, and when they heard no denials from the masked man, they knew that this was true. While it was a little annoying that the man was working on such a side project when he should have been helping his apprentice though, Ventus's mind had clearly gone to the positives that now came from this project. "That's actually not a bad idea," the Keyblade master admitted. "You said yourself that Nobodies can't tell the difference between mere data and real beings, right? So, if we send Roxas and Xion in there, they'll be hidden among an entire city made of data, and become that much harder for them to find."_

 _"Yes, it could work, and I do admit, it would allow the parts of Sora that those two possess to return to him a little more quickly, but the Organization's members are not that easily fooled. The minute that they see the two in there, living their lies as they have been until now, without the Organization's influence, they will be upon that world and us before we even have a chance to defend ourselves, and we'll lose a good escape option for both us and Sora," DiZ disputed._

 _"So we just don't act like ourselves. We can do that, you know," Roxas pointed out._

 _"Optimistic, but foolish. Something I did think was possible for a Nobody," DiZ noted, almost sounding as though he were surprised. "No matter how good the act may be, they will see through it. You would have to be completely different people inside and out for that to work."_

 _Hearing that made Xion pause for a minute, and then slowly turn to Naminé as she asked, "So why not make us that way?" When the others glanced at her in confusion, Xion directed her attention to Naminé, along with her next question. "Naminé, you told me you have the power to alter memories, right?"_

 _"Yes, but only those of Sora's and the people close to him," Naminé clarified._

 _"Well do you think you could change our memories," Xion asked, surprising everyone in the room. Before anyone could ask the question, Xion explained, "If Naminé can alter our memories, and make it so that we think we had lived peacefully in Twilight Town our whole lives, then the Organization wouldn't be able to realize that we're putting up an act. After all, you don't actually need to pretend if you don't even know that it is pretend, right?"_

 _Naminé scratched her chin in thought for a minute before she said, "I suppose it could work. Seeing as you both hold a piece of Sora in you, there is a connection to him despite the fact that neither of you have ever met Sora, but in order for that to really work, I would have to wipe out all of your memories and rewrite them with new ones. You wouldn't even remember me, Master Ventus, your friend, Axel, or even how to use the Keyblade, and there's no telling how long it could take to reverse the process, assuming it ever could be."_

 _"That's a chance that I'm willing to take if it will let us help Sora," Xion insisted. She then turned to Roxas and asked, "What about you, Bro?"_

 _Roxas was silent for a minute before he said, "Yeah. I'm in."_

 _"You do know that you don't have to do this, right," Master Ventus asked._

 _"We know, but we want to," Xion informed him._

 _"This is our choice," Roxas added._

 _Ventus stared at the two for a moment before he finally nodded in response, and then allowed DiZ and Naminé to lead them both to the device that would send the two into the virtual town. While DiZ made sure to get everything ready for transport, Naminé quickly ran upstairs to grab something, and then came back down with a couple boxes in her arms. She then presented one of the packages to Xion as she said, "You're going to need a new look while you guys are in there, and I remember you once told me you did not really have any clothes besides the ones that the Organization gave you guys. So, while you were gone, I thought I'd get you both some new clothes. I don't really know if Roxas's are the right size or not, but I did my best to find a style I figured you two would like. I hope you both like them."_

 _Xion accepted her package before opening the lid and grinning widely at the light blue shirt and dark vest inside. While Roxas just accepted his package with a happy nod, Xion made it a point to wrap Naminé in a tight hug as she said, "I know I'll love it. Thank you so much, Naminé!"_

 _Ventus let the two girls have their moment to hug it out, and when they finished, he decided to give the two a few parting words of his own before anything else happened. "If you ask me, you two have proven yourselves to be truly worthy of the Keyblade. The fact that you both used your own instead of one that was obviously a copy of Sora's is proof of that. I believe that the chances of you two proving yourselves again after going in there, are a lot better than you may think."_

 _"You really think so," Roxas asked._

 _"No, I don't think. I told you, that's what I believe," Ventus corrected._

 _"And sometimes, that's enough, right," Xion finished._

 _"Exactly. And when it does happen, I'll be waiting for you both to truly begin your training," Ventus confirmed._

 _Roxas and Xion both nodded in reply, eager smiles forming on their faces at the thought of being trained on how to really use the Keyblade, and just when DiZ reported that he was ready, Roxas looked at the armored master and said, "Thanks, Master."_

 _With that said, the teleporter system activated, and the two disappeared into the virtual world it led to, but not before they heard one last request from Ventus. "Hey, I think we've gotten to the point where we don't need to be so formal. You can just call me Ven."_

* * *

When the memory flash ended, both siblings were panting heavily, wide-eyed at what they now knew to be truth, and staring out into space as they tried to pull it all together in their minds. They had little success, until Xion finally whispered, "Naminé was telling the truth. It really was our choice to have our memories changed, and we chose that for the sake of Sora."

Unlike his sister, Roxas did not find this to be a great revelation, mainly because he kept thinking about DiZ's first comment in that memory, and that made him think of what the masked man had done to Naminé, ultimately leading him to finally summon out the Keyblade and start smashing the computer in front of him in blind rage. Xion did not do anything to stop him though, because she could tell that her brother really needed to vent like this right now, so she just let him. For several minutes, the only sounds in the room other than a few faint beeps and whirs, were those of Roxas's Keyblade smashing into the computer, while electricity sparked and surged forth with every angry strike, all the way to the point when Roxas finally had his fill of angry smashing, and let out a calming breath to make sure he was better now.

They did not have time to worry about that for long though, as the other door in the lab slid open, allowing them access to the next room. The twins felt like they were not likely to find anything too bad in there, besides another memory flash, so they did not hesitate to run through the hallway that had just been opened up, and into the large, empty room beyond. It turned out that they were very wrong, because they did find something that was going to be much more painful for them, as Axel was waiting there for them, and he did not look happy at all. Instead of the friendly or tired looks that they had seen him sporting up until now, he was now looking very pissed off, and from what she could remember of her old memories, Xion knew that could only mean one thing for them.

"Simply amazing, Roxas, Xion," Axel sarcastically applauded. "You've really outdone yourselves with this little scheme you cooked up for hiding."

"Axel, you don't understand," Roxas started to say, hoping that he could reason with the man that he and his sister were supposed to be best friends with.

"Oh, so you really do remember me this time? I'm SO FLATTERED," Axel roared, summoning forth a ring fire that enclosed all three of them inside the room, with no way out when he did. "But you're too late!"

Seeing that they were not going to be able to reason with him, Roxas and Xion exchanged a nod with one another, and then narrowed their eyes at Axel, determined to fight him to the finish if they had to, before summoning forth their Keyblades. This time though, they did not bring forth copies of the Kingdom Key, but instead, the same three Keyblades that they had been using in their most recent memory flashes. Seeing this surprised Axel a little, more so in the case of seeing Roxas wielding two Keyblades at once, but he managed to shake it off and bring forth his chakrams in their usual, fiery display, grinning madly all the while. With their arena set and their weapons drawn, the battle between the three friends had begun, and two of them they found it weighing heavily on their shoulders, and in their chests.

Despite any upset feelings that he had about fighting Axel, Roxas still took the initiative and charge the redhead, batting aside both of Axel's thrown chakrams with the black Keyblade so that he could better close in and start unleashing a powerful combo attack that started with a slash from Oathkeeper. Several slashes tore into Axel as a result of Roxas's assault, and the redhead was only able to survive it by summoning forth a quick inferno that pushed the blonde away. It did not allow him to avoid Xion's sudden attack from behind, or her point-blank blast of magic ice, and Axel was soon pushed into the flaming ring around them as a result. If either sibling thought that was the end of it, they were soon proven wrong, as Axel suddenly jumped at them from out of the flames, slashing at them both with his chakrams.

Xion managed to parry a few blows with her black and white Keyblade, before she attempted to fire off another blast of ice. The problem was the surrounding fires made it too hard for the ice to really be effective at a distance, and the shards quickly melted into water before they could even get halfway to their target. Her mistake would have cost Xion the fight had Roxas not jumped in front of her to block Axel's next attack, and he then used both of his blades to push him up into the air. Xion then used her brother's shoulder as a support to help her get airborne as well, and she immediately unleashed a fast-paced, furious barrage of sword strikes against Axel, before using him to spring board away. Once his sister was clear, Roxas took to the air as well, and delivered a quick cross-slash onto the red head that sent him flying down to hard impact on the floor.

He would not deny that these two were doing really well in this fight, but Axel was not one to easily give up, and he proved that point when he summoned a jet of fire up from the ground. The two Keyblade wielders likely would have been burnt to a crisp had they not dived to either side of the room at just the right moment, but Axel had disappeared into the fiery walls once again, avoiding any counterattacks from the two. This had allowed the redhead to start springing out of the flames with several fast-paced attacks, all of which were followed by a few plumes of fire, and Roxas and Xion were just barely able to stay ahead of him this time. Even when they did manage to deflect a few blows from the chakrams, they were still not quite fast enough to completely dodge the following flames without getting a little singed.

Since Axel was focusing most of those attacks on him, Roxas was not really able to do much in order to counterattack, but Xion was, and she did as soon as she saw the first opening she could. The next time Axel leapt out, she tossed her Keyblade at him, knocking him off his path and causing the flames that were following him to disperse, giving Roxas the chance to rush the redhead and start unloading a furious barrage of slashes from both of his Keyblades. With one last cross-slash, Roxas managed to get Axel down to his last leg, and Xion took the chance to deliver the final blow. Surprisingly, Axel did not do anything to stop her, and took the hit head-on, without doing anything to block it, proving that he knew he was beaten. The two did not relax right away, but instead, waited into the wall of fire had died down and left no signs of ever being in the room aside from the scorch marks that were on the walls and floor, while watching as Axel panted in exhaustion.

Even after the flames had died out, they did not relax, because they felt that Axel could still make one last, desperate move, but as they watched him continue on in his doubled-over state, they started to think that he really was beaten. The sound of his two chakrams dropping to the ground before vanishing in bursts of fire were what finally proved that they had won, but neither Roxas nor Xion were too happy about this victory. Who would be after having to fight a battle like that against their best friend? It was only made a little worse when a couple more memories suddenly returned to their minds, both of which proved that Axel really was a good friend to them.

* * *

 _The first of the memories was actually the conclusion of Roxas's last conversation with Axel, as he departed from the Organization to find out the answers he was seeking, and it was now clear that Axel was not just begging him to not leave, but also warning him why he should not. "You get on their bad side and they'll destroy you!"_

 _"No one would miss me or Xion for that matter," Roxas waved off, walking away as soon as he had said the words. That did not stop him from hearing Axel's response before he rounded the bend though._

 _"That's not true! I would," Axel admitted sadly, and if one were looking at him right then, they would have sworn that he was on the verge of tears._

 _At that point, the memory shifted again, and showed Xion battling against someone who appeared to be part of the Organization, while Axel begged for her to stop. She did not listen though, but from an outside perspective, she had good reason to at least act in self-defense, because the other Organization member had obviously drawn weapons on her and began to shoot at the girl. Whatever words were exchanged between them, one could not say, as most of them seemed muffled, until Xion put on an incredible burst of speed and attacked the Organization member that was targeting her, knocking him out of the fight in a flash._

 _"I'm sorry, Axel," Xion apologized as she dismissed her Keyblade._

 _"What're you doing, Xion," Axel asked. "First you abandon your mission to go poking around in Castle Oblivion, and now you're trying to run away? I just don't get it."_

 _"Please, let me go," Xion begged. "I have to do this, or else…nothing will ever truly be safe, for anyone. Not even for Nobodies like us. You know I'm right. Please, Axel, let me go so I can help him."_

 _Axel seemed to consider this for a moment before he finally nodded for her to go, bringing a smile to Xion's face when he did, but that smile quickly disappeared when he warned her, "Just so you know, they'll likely set me on your trail, so I ever run into you again…I won't be able to hold anything back."_

 _"…I understand, but only if you know that if you do see me again, it'll only because I want you to find me, and it will likely be for yours or Roxas's sake," Xion cautioned in return, and she then ran into a Corridor of Darkness that would lead her to the next world she planned to hop through in her journey to find Naminé._

 _The last memory was of an earlier time in the three's friendship, and they were all seated on the clock tower, eating ice cream, and laughing as they horsed around a little, until Xion paused to gaze at the horizon. "Wow, the sun's beautiful," the girl gasped in awe, making both boys turn to look at the sunset as well. They both had to agree with her on that, and in all honesty, her next remark was another one that they had to agree with. "I know we've seen a lot of sunsets, but today's puts them all to shame. If only things could stay like this forever…"_

 _The other two were silent at that, and they all enjoyed the peace between them for a little bit, until Roxas seemed to get an idea that surprised his friends a little. "Say…What if we all just took off? If we ran, I bet we could always be together."_

 _"But we have…nowhere to run," Xion reminded him sadly, but somehow, she knew that Roxas was thinking of one place that they could run too, and at least one of the people that would be waiting for them there._

 _Still, Roxas kept up the act of not knowing anywhere they could run, and agreed with Xion, prompting Axel to speak up in an attempt to keep the kids from getting too sad. "What's important isn't that we hang out with each other every day…"_

 _"As long as we keep each other in our thoughts, we'll never be apart, right," Xion finished for their fiery friend. "We've got it memorized, Axel."_

 _"Good," Axel nodded with a smile._

 _"Just like we've also memorized how that line is so not you," Roxas teased._

 _"Hey," Axel playfully snapped as he shoved his friend a little, earning laughs from all three._

 _When they quieted down again, Xion smiled a little more as she whispered, "I'll have these moments memorized for a long time. Forever."_

 _"Me too. Forever," Roxas happily agreed, earning a smile from Axel after he had heard that from them._

* * *

"Axel…" Roxas sighed sadly, showing just how upset he was that he did not remember that last memory until now, and Xion was no different from him given the look in her eyes as she stared at the redhead now.

Hearing his friend's voice made Axel raise his head up again so that he could look the two in the eyes, and much to Xion and Roxas's surprise, he was actually smiling at them. "Let's all meet up again in the next life," Axel offered without a hint of his previous malice.

"Yeah. We'll be waiting," Roxas promised.

"And I'll make sure that we have some sea-salt ice cream for that moment, too," Xion added with a smile.

That brought a smile to Axel's face as he started to fade away into shadows, and he soon had to laugh a little at them both. "Silly," Axel continued to laugh. "Just because you guys have a next life…"

Whatever else he was going to say went unheard, and the two were left to keep going in their exploration from there, wishing that they could have had a few more moments with Axel like the ones they had shared before. As a result, they took a moment to send a few last silent words of thanks to their best friend, along with a silent apology for not really remembering him too well until now, even if it was due to Naminé modifying their memories, before they both turned to move into the next room. When they stepped inside, the first thing they noticed was a number of egg-shaped pods lining the wall, and from the look of things, most of them were left untouched, their intended purpose going unfulfilled. At least, that's what they thought until they noticed that there was someone inside the last two of the pods.

When they stepped closer, Xion had to rub the glass a little so that she could have a clear view through its fogged-up state, and she gasped a little when she saw a familiar looking duck inside, apparently sound asleep. Moving over to the next pod, Roxas repeated his sister's actions, and spotted another familiar face, this one more dog-like, and they both knew exactly who these two were.

"Donald…" Xion whispered.

"And Goofy," Roxas finished, though it was mostly as a question, as he could still hardly believe it. He then turned to the large door at the end of this hallway, and asked, "Does that mean that he's…?"

"I guess there's only one way to find out," Xion offered up, and the two then slowly proceeded towards the door, ready to face whatever awaited them beyond it.

They were quickly rethinking just how ready they were after they stepped inside the room, but not because of the massive, egg-shaped pod that was bigger than the ones outside, or how empty and white the room itself was. The reason was actually because of the first person they saw in there, and he was not someone that they wanted to see again right now. "At last, the Keyblade's chosen one," DiZ stated, almost sounding happy at their arrival, but they both knew that it was not them he was awaiting.

"Who are you talking to," Roxas asked with an angry glare. "One of us, or Sora?"

"To parts of Sora, of course," DiZ replied like it was obvious. "You both reside in darkness. What I need is someone who can move about the realm of light and destroy Organization XIII."

"And what makes you so sure that we can't," Xion demanded. "What even gives you the right to decide that we're not capable of helping?"

"More importantly, why are you obsessed with destroying the Organization? Just who are you, really," Roxas questioned.

"I am a servant of the world," DiZ answered, letting out a hollow laugh immediately afterwards that only got Roxas and Xion even angrier, but not as much as the next thing he said. "And, if I'm a servant, then you two should consider yourselves tools, at best."

"Was that…Was that supposed to be a joke? 'Cause neither one of us are laughing," Roxas shouted as he summoned out his copy of Kingdom Key once more, and then rushed to cut DiZ down, finally having had enough of the man's manipulations. His Keyblade went through the masked man, but it did not do so in a way that one would have expected. Instead, it just went through him like he was merely a ghost, much to the two's surprise and frustration.

"My apologies. This is only a data-based projection," DiZ informed them, not sounding the least bit apologetic at all.

"Don't apologize if you're not actually sorry. You've been wanting to get rid of us right from day one, and not that your chance is here, you're too much of a coward to do it in person, or even be honest about it," Xion snapped, summoning her own Kingdom Key copy just emphasize her point. She was about to try her own luck as slashing through the projection, when it suddenly disappeared and then rematerialized closer to the pod, beckoning them to approach it.

"I hate you so much," Roxas growled at DiZ.

"That makes two of us," Xion agreed.

"You should share some of that hatred with Sora. He's far too nice for his own good," DiZ recommended.

"And what's wrong with that," Xion demanded, not liking the idea at all.

"Besides, our hearts belong to us," Roxas insisted, and he then charged DiZ again, only for the projection to disappear the minute he got in reach. At that moment, several lines on the pod flashed brightly, and it began to slowly open up like a flower setting into bloom, allowing both Roxas and Xion to see the person inside clearly. When they did see him, they were both awestruck, and could barely speak, until Roxas finally said the person's name. "Sora…"

Indeed, it was in fact the true wielder of the Kingdom Key Keyblade, brown spiky hair, crown necklace, and all, looking like he was sleeping as peacefully as a man without any worries at all, though there was one difference between the Sora before them and the one the two siblings had seen in their dreams, and Xion was the one to point it out. "He's a lot bigger now than he was in those memories."

"Yeah, and he looks ridiculous in that too-small outfit," Roxas laughed in agreement. It was an empty laugh though, as he then looked up at the boy he and his sister had been created from, and said, "You're lucky, Sora. A lot more than we are, at least."

"Roxas," Xion whispered, reaching for his hand as she came to stand closer to him. "I'm…a little scared. This is definitely not how I pictured meeting the real Sora, and it feels like at any moment, we could…"

"Except we won't, Sis," Roxas reassured. "Naminé said we wouldn't disappear, and we've got more reason to trust her than we do DiZ." He then turned his sad smile back on to Sora as he added, "Either way, it looks like our summer vacation is…over."

The two continued looking up at Sora with those same sad smiles, both knowing Roxas's words to be true. No matter what happened to them next, their time for fun and games was at an end, and they were okay with all of that. More importantly, they were happy to just be with each other when it did come to an end, and for these two, there was nothing more important than that. Despite everything that DiZ said, they knew who they were, and nothing would ever change that. What they did not expect, was for someone else to suddenly speak up in response to Roxas's words.

"You're right. Summer vacation is over, for all of us, and it's time we finally got back to work," a familiar voice said, and both Roxas and Xion spun around to see a man dressed in familiar armor slowly walking up to them from behind, until he stood right before them, and they no longer had any question as to who he was.

"Master Ventus," Xion gasped in awe, while Roxas could only stare in shock.

Hearing the girl speak his name, prompted the Keyblade master to lift both hands up to his helmet, and then slowly remove it, allowing the two to see someone that looked like a much older version of Roxas, right down to the blonde spiky hair, save for the small beard that was now on his face, along with the smile as he happily reminded the two, "I thought you would've remembered by now. You guys can just call me Ven."

* * *

 ** _AN: Well, I'd say that you didn't see that coming, but let's be honest, we all knew this last bit was going to happen from the moment you saw the cover art, right?_**

 ** _Riku: Not to mention the various author's notes from earlier in the story, and several hints in the last story that alluded to this to begin with._**

 ** _AN: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Point is, we all knew that something was going to happen that would keep the two from getting fused with Sora, and on top of that, more of their history, AKA this time line's version of 358/2 Days is revealed, while Ventus finally gets to show off his face to the world again._**

 ** _Roxas: You know, I can't help but wonder now if he ever noticed that he was growing that beard before._**

 ** _AN: An excellent question, but not really one that we're going to answer right now. What is important is the hopes that you all noticed the story changes that took place in this chapter, both in terms of what happened in the memory flashes, and what happened during the rest of the day. Also, just to give you all final confirmation, yes, Roxas's Keyblades are Oathkeeper and Oblivion, while Xion's using Two Become One. Hope we avoid any confusion with me saying that._**

 ** _If I'm being honest, I had originally intended to show the full conversation between Ventus, Roxas, and Xion at the end there in this chapter, but it started getting too long for my taste, while the next chapter felt like it would be too short in comparison, so I decided to end things where I did so that it would have more of an impact come next chapter, or something along similar lines._**

 ** _Xion: At least we got to see more Roxas &Namine moments, along with more of me teasing them. Plus, we also found out how me and Roxas got our Twilight Town outfits, or in Roxas's case, how he got his back._**

 ** _AN: Yeah, I figured that if you and Namine had gotten to spend more time together, as it has been implied here, it would make sense that she would be the one that got you your new look for this story. Don't ask how she did it. It's pretty clear that DiZ does not have as tight of a leash on Namine as he thought he did after seeing what she managed to pull off in canon without Ventus's help._**

 ** _Ventus: I don't think that there's really anything else you can say now._**

 ** _AN: Sure there is. There's...well, how about...uh...huh...I guess there isn't anything else I can say about today's chapter. Everything was pretty much covered here, so we might as well run the warp-up. Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _Roxas and Xion get a surprising truth revealed to them after meeting Ven at last, and with that new knowledge, they find their next course of action simple: leave the virtual Twilight Town, enter the real one, and meet up with Sora for real. Of course, not everything is going to be smooth sailing, as they all quickly learn shortly after leaving the mansion alongside Donald, Goofy, and Ventus. Apparently the Organization is much a bigger threat to more than just Roxas and Xion, and the worlds are counting on those chosen by the Keyblade to save them. A new team is born, and a new mission awaits, next time._**

 ** _The big moment approaches! It's time for the hero of Kingdom Hearts to make his comeback at last! But before that happens..._**

 ** _Please read and review, and see ya real soon!_**


	7. Reunion Time at Last

_**AN: Welcome back, one and all, to the next chapter of Kingdom Hearts Keyblade Legion!**_

 _ **[audience applause]**_

 _ **Yeah, I figured you would all be excited for this chapter, as its the big moment we've all been waiting for. The final conclusion of Roxas and Xion's summer vacation, Sora's awakening, and so much more. But before we get into any of that, we've got a review or two to answer.**_

 _ **Xigbar: Why not leave 'em guessing? I mean, that just makes things a lot more fun when you do answer it in the story. Like how you plan to have the first return trip to Twilight Town feature...**_

 _ **AN: DAH! SPOILER AND BAD GUY TRYING TO TELL ME HOW TO RUN STORY AND/OR AUTHOR'S NOTES! [hits the button]**_

 _ **Xigbar: Right. Like I'm really going to be scared of anything you might...[suddenly gets his butt chomped on by Tick Toc the crocodile] AHHHHH! GET IT OFF, GET IT OFF, GET IT OFF! [actually manages to get the crocodile off, but soon starts running scared when Tic Toc goes in for another bite]**_

 _ **AN: Be honest, how many of you have wanted to do something like that to Xigbar just because his eyepatch makes him look like a wannabe pirate?**_

 _ **Xigbar: [somewhere in the distance as he's still being chased] I'M NOT A PIRATE!**_

 _ **AN: Nobody cares what you think, Xigbar! Ahem, anywho, I believe we were going to answer some reviews, so let's start with one from "NinjaFang1331". In answer to your question, yes, Sora will typically still need to use Drive Forms to be able to use two Keyblades, but if he finds himself in a desperate situation like that one again, there may be a chance that he could use two without the Drive Forms again. I wouldn't really count on that happening though. After all, it's gonna be hard for him to be backed into a corner that badly when there's so many members on the team right now.**_

 _ **Rolling on over to "Anonymaton", there may be a very likely chance that Aqua's gonna use Ven's new beard as a chance to get back at him for the haircut he forced her into back in Keyblades of Future Past, but I wouldn't go thinking that means the thing will be completely gone. At the moment, his beard is a little more bushy and wild, unlike the one you see him rocking in the cover art, so...yeah. Btw, you might want to do a little bit of work on that auto-spoiler upgrade, cause I didn't really understand that first question you asked. And as for the gag designer question, I actually do a lot of my own designs where those are concerned, and occasionally, I have the cast of the stories put in a few ideas here and there. Just ask Axel, he actually gave me one a little while back.**_

 _ **Roxas: Hey, are you gonna answer any of the questions that "Dragon Rider 66" asked?**_

 _ **AN: This time, I'm sorry to say that I won't be able to. Most of those questions will actually be answered by the next chapter, if not this one, or even as time goes on, and they're pretty big spoilers in the case of the latter. Though I have to agree, it is pretty cool that you've been able to do a review that big after so long.**_

 _ **Roxas: I'm mainly asking because Riku's been looking a little pale after he read that first part of the review.**_

 _ **AN: [looks over with Roxas to see Riku looking just as the blonde had described] Well, I know a good way to snap him out of it. Xion, kiss the brooding scardycat.**_

 ** _Xion: [blushes heavily]_**

 ** _Roxas: [looking mad] What?! You kiss the brooding scardycat!_**

 ** _AN: No way! I don't swing that way, for one, and two...wait for it._**

 ** _Riku: [suddenly snaps out of it and is now sporting a blush that matches Xion's]_**

 ** _AN: There we go. Moving along to "Dcraus", as I told you last chapter, I'm not taking on any more new challenges at this time, so I can't accept yours. Sorry._**

 ** _Moving right along, to "Ronin Warriors Fanatic", I wouldn't worry about the Land of Dragons too much in regards to Xion's presence. If anything, you should be more excited about how Xion's going to handle that world. It's going to be quite the adventure, and a good chance for character development for her when we get there._**

 ** _Ventus: I don't think we can really answer any other questions right now._**

 ** _Roxas: Really? We can't?_**

 ** _AN: Anything else would be giving away serious spoilers for the story. (Sorry "Monkey D. Conan" and everyone else who posted questions in their reviews for the previous chapter). But to everyone who has added more hate fuel to the growing fire that is the flames against DiZ...keep it up and we'll be able to have a nice little bonfire. Hehehehe._**

 ** _DiZ: I cannot help but feel worried about how he's saying that, or how he's laughing._**

 ** _AN: And you should be...But, you can leave it for later. We've got an adventure to continue. But before that, there's a little something that I think a lot of people are curious about, so let's not keep them waiting on that. Xion, play the track!_**

 ** _Xion: Here we go. [hits play on the music video device]_**

* * *

 **[cue opening theme music for Power Rangers Mega Force]**

 **[0:00-0:10]: Shows Kairi dropping in with Keyblade in hand, Roxas and Xion dropping into battle stances, Ventus standing back-to-back with Aqua, before ending on Sora staring down an unseen enemy as he stands ready**

 **"Key! Blade! Legion! Kingdom Hearts Keyblade Legion!"**

 **[0:11-0:30]: Shows each character on the team introducing themselves while a clip of them in battle plays off to one side, as the lyrics play**

 **"Go go Keyblade Masters!" {"Sora!", Kingdom Key wielder slashing bad guys left and right.}**

 **"Go go Keyblade Masters!" {"Ventus!", Guardian Wind wielder spinning through the battlefield as he slashes away. "Xion!" Two Become One wielder slashes several monsters before blasting magic out of her free hand. "Roxas!" Dual Wielder is seen doing what he does best, fighting bad guys with two Keyblades at once.}**

 **"Master forever! Keyblade Legion all together!" {"Kairi." Destiny's Embrace wielder charging in to slash through enemies or blast them with magic. "Aqua!" Bluenette blasts several enemies with Prism Rain and light chains}**

 **"Key! Blade! Legion!"**

 **[0:31-0:39] Displays the various wielders fighting Heartless and Nobodies in various different methods before Sora's seen with a bright light erupting from his person, and then going into a four-split screen to show Xion in Valor Form, Roxas in Wisdom Form, Kairi in Master Form, and Sora in Limit Form, and then returns to normal as it shows all four in each of their versions of Final Form.**

 **"Keyblade Legion!"**

 **[the rest of the video starts off with introducing Donald and Goofy at the same time, then Mickey and Riku, followed by showing displays of Maleficent and Organization XIII, ending with a little montage of the heroes in action]**

 **"Go go Keyblade Masters!"**

 **"Go go Keyblade Masters!"**

 **"Master forever! Keyblade Legion all together!"**

 **[very last bit shows the six member lead characters, Donald, and Goofy all standing in the midst of the Heartless army, summoning respective Keyblades in preparation for battle]**

 **"Key! Blade! Legion!"**

 **"Kingdom Hearts Keyblade Legion!"**

 **[show various Keyblades spinning across the screen before Kingdom Key appears to seems to summon out the story title, and end song]**

* * *

 ** _Xion: Wow, you've really got a bit too much of a thing when it comes to Power Rangers._**

 ** _AN: Hey, it's a good series. Besides, who doesn't love Power Rangers these days? Am I right?_**

 ** _Anyways, you've now seen the little title sequence I've got in my head for this story, so with that out of the way, let's get on with the show, everyone!_**

 ** _I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story._**

* * *

 **Chapter VII**

The whole room was quiet, aside from one or two sounds from the egg-shaped pod, while not a single word was whispered between the three people inside of said room. On one side, stood Roxas and Xion, both gaping widely at the man before them who had only just now shown his face to them after hiding it behind the helmet of his armor for so long. On the other, stood one Keyblade Master Ventus, grinning happily at the two with his helmet tucked under one arm for a little bit before it finally vanished in a flash of light. Why they were all just standing around staring at one another, it was hard to say, but given how much fighting that two of them had been caught up in until a moment ago, there was little reason to complain about a peaceful silence. That did not keep it from turning a little awkward when Ventus started to find their staring a little uncomfortable, because there was something about their looks that made him a little nervous.

"What's wrong," Ven finally asked, but the siblings said nothing in reply. "Okay, I get it. You're freaked out about how I look so much like Roxas, right," the blonde master guessed. "Well, I would've figured you would have gotten over that by now, after seeing all of Sora's memories about me, but I suppose it is a little different seeing such a thing in person."

"N-no, it's not that," Roxas admitted, having finally found his voice again. "But if it is any indication, at least I don't have to worry about how I'll look when I get old."

"Hey, watch it! I'm still in my twenties, so don't go calling me old just yet," Ventus playfully warned, his smile not fading even a little. "So then, did you guys think that I couldn't take the armor off, or is it just weird seeing me with everything but the helmet on?"

"No, we never thought that," Roxas insisted. "It's just…well…uh…"

"You have a beard," Xion finally revealed, unable to keep silent any longer. In hindsight, she did not think that the first thing she would say to Ventus after seeing his face would be that, but given the shock of both this moment and all that had happened today, Xion was not really able to think of anything else.

"What? I don't have a…" Ventus started to say, even as he ran a hand along his face. He quickly stopped short when he felt the texture of said facial hair, and quickly started running both hands along the entire lower half of his face to confirm he was not imaging things. "I have a beard?! Seriously?!" His frantic freak out quickly paused though as he glanced around, asking, "Does it look bad? Where's a mirror? I need to know if it looks bad or not."

"It doesn't look…too bad," Roxas tried to reassure him, even though he was a little mystified on how the Keyblade master could not have known about this fact. "It's just…"

"It would probably look better if you trimmed it down to something a little simpler, or at least one that didn't cover your whole face," Xion filled in. "A full blown beard does make you look a lot older than you probably want to look."

Ventus nodded along to the two's words before finally catching sight of his reflection in the glass of the egg-shaped pod that was supposed to be housing his apprentice, and saw that the lower half of his face was in fact covered in facial hair. He ran his hand along the whiskers for a minute, apparently trying to smooth them out and make it a little less messy in appearance before he finally sighed, "Well, I guess that's what I get for wearing this armor practically nonstop for over a year now, save for the moments when it was most necessary."

"Uh…define 'most necessary'," Xion asked a disgusted look already on her face at the things she was imagining.

"Relax, kid. I did actually shower and stop to use the bathroom when I needed to," Ventus promised. "But enough about me. That's not why I'm here, or why either of you are here."

"And why do you think we're here? Because we're parts of Sora," Roxas demanded, his cross look from before slowly starting to return.

"Yes and no. It's true that the two of you were once part of Sora, but you're much more than that now," Ventus replied, surprising the two a little. "DiZ was too blinded by his anger and need for revenge to see the truth of the matter, but I could tell from the moment when I first saw you two that you were much more special than a typical Nobody, even in regards to the ones that lead the Organization."

"'Nobody,'" Xion whispered. "That's what Naminé, DiZ, and…that guy in the coat kept calling us and those creatures. Just what is a Nobody?"

Ventus paused for a moment, apparently thinking over how to reply to that question, and then explained, "A Nobody is a being that does not exist in the darkness or the light. Some would say that they do not truly exist, but that may be more because of the fact that they do not have hearts. Apparently, they were once people that had lost their heart to darkness, but the strong will they possessed allowed the bodies that remained to be given new life thanks in part to the souls that were practically abandoned. However, those with especially strong wills can retain a human shape, while others…well, you saw them for yourselves over the past few days."

"They become Dusks, right," Roxas asked, earning him a curious look from Ventus. "That's what Axel called them."

Ventus nodded in response, confirming Roxas's suspicion. "However, even among those special few Nobodies, you two were different. Most human-like Nobodies still retain the same appearance as their original human forms, but you two…or more specifically, Roxas and Naminé, do not look anything like the people they were created from."

"And Sora is the one that Roxas was created from, right," Xion asked just to make sure her guess was right.

"That's right," Ventus confirmed. "While he does look like me, Roxas is in fact Sora's Nobody. At least, he was originally, but since Sora did not remain a Heartless for too long, there was no chance of Roxas ever gaining any of Sora's memories. Not in the normal sense anyway."

"Then…what about Xion? How does she tie into all of this," Roxas asked.

"You already know that Xion's not a Nobody, but a Replica, don't you," Ventus asked. When the two said nothing in reply, Ventus knew that he had guessed right. "Well, let me fill in a few of the blanks that may still be there. Replicas are a type of artificial copy of another person, though the exact way on how they are created is not entirely known. The ones that I have encountered though, were created through the use of the original person's memories, and in your case, Xion, those memories were some of Sora's most precious."

"So then…I really don't exist, even as one of these…" Xion started to say in sorrow, only to stop short when Ventus interrupted.

"I'm not finished. Please don't say anything like that just yet, because it's just not true," Ventus insisted. "Despite being intended as a copy of someone else, there is a chance that Replicas can gain their own sense of self and personality. Tell me, in all of his memories that you've seen, have you ever really seen Sora acting in any way that was completely the same as you?" The girl just shook her head in the negative in response, prompting Ven to continue with a smile. "Well, there's another reason right there as to why you're more than just something that someone created. Did you know, Xion, that when you were first created, you didn't even have a face? That changed over time as you absorbed more of Sora's essence into yourself through Roxas, and thanks to the memories used to create you, you gained an appearance all your own. You could say that it's a mixture of Sora and Kairi's appearances, but do you think that?"

"No," Xion immediately replied, and she then thought of something that Ven had just said. "If all of that is just another reason why we're different, then what is the original reason?"

Ventus smiled a little more at that question before he revealed, "You just need to look inside of yourselves, reaching out with all of your senses, and you'll be able to find that answer right away." He let the two try and do so for a few minutes, but when their eyes just gained a confused look, he realized that he would probably have to spell it out for them. "The two of you have each gained hearts of your own. That's not something that Sora, Xion's creators, or that even I gave you. It's something that you gained all on your own, just because you continued to be who _you_ two are."

Roxas and Xion both gasped in wide-eyed shock at this, and each were soon placing a hand on their chests to see if Ven was telling the truth. When they felt the soft pulse of a heartbeat coming from inside, they knew that he was telling the truth. Even so, it was still something that neither of them were expecting. "We have…We have hearts," Xion whispered, still unable to believe it, even as she clenched her hand over her chest where her heart was.

"How…When…" Roxas stuttered, unable to really say as much as his sister was right now.

"What? You think I know the answer to that," Ventus jokingly questioned. "I wasn't exactly able to hang around you guys all the time after you first came into being. If I had to guess, it happened at some point during your time with the Organization. I'm not sure if it's possible for all Nobodies to gain hearts of their own or not, but you two definitely have your own, and they're both as real as you two are, or as I am."

"But what makes you so sure of that," Roxas asked.

"Think back on what you can remember from your time with Organization," Ventus prompted, and the two were soon looking through the memories that they had regained up until now. "Each of them only acts like they have emotions because they remember what each emotion feels like, since they also remember when they were human. Neither of you could remember such a thing, so you had nothing to base your reactions off of when you needed to feel a certain way. As I watched you both from the shadows, I could see you both having fun, laughing together, and even getting upset, and even from a distance, it was easy to see that none of it was faked. It was all real. Many people have realized this by now, but it still bears repeating that the heart is a mysterious thing that we may never fully understand, but there is one thing that we all know for a fact. You have to have a heart in order to laugh, to get angry, to love, to hate, and even to cry."

Xion could not argue that last one, since she had done a fair bit of crying today, and Roxas was in the same boat considering how much anger he felt towards DiZ, but the thing that really cemented these facts for them was their last moment with Axel just a short while ago. They both felt a deep connection with the tall redhead, and they were both really upset about how they had to fight against him, and felt bad for him when they won. More than anything, they both felt like they understood why he did what he did. Axel just wanted his best friends to come back with him, and thinking about that made them wonder if they really were the only ones in the Organization to gain hearts of their own. What if Axel had gained his own heart as well, just from hanging out with the two of them? It did seem to line up with what Ventus was implying about them, but then again, Axel could remember what it was like when he was human, and he had clearly kept a lot of secrets from the two of them during their time with the Organization, so maybe they should not get their hopes up too high.

This was a lot to take in for the siblings, but at the same time, they found themselves handling it all quite well. If anything, it was like they were being reminded of something they already knew, and they were actually quite happy to remember it all. Still, they had a few questions left to ask, but out of all of them, only one really mattered at this point. "So, what's going to happen to us now," Roxas asked for the both of them. "Even we have our own hearts, does that really give us a right to stay awake while Sora's…"

"Hey, don't go talking like that. Sora's not dead you know. In fact, he's going to be waking up any minute now," Ventus revealed, surprising both kids. "Those last few memories of his that you saw in your dreams were the last pieces he needed in order to wake up, and while DiZ believes that you both need to rejoin with Sora so that he can be whole, what he doesn't know is that Sora did not need either of you to rejoin with him from the moment when you gained your own hearts."

"That's great," Xion cheered before she remembered something else. "Wait, how did you manage to reverse and remove whatever ability allowed me to absorb Sora's power through Roxas, though?"

"You'd have to ask Naminé for the specifics on that, but from what I could understand, since you were made from Sora's most precious memories, it was just a matter of her using her powers to separate those memories from your own, and placing them back into Sora, a process that was made easier since Roxas was close by and able to act as a kind of filter that helped her separate the two. As for canceling the absorption powers…well, that was something that DiZ and Naminé both worked together on, so I have no clue to how to simplify that explanation. All I can say is that it was the one thing that DiZ obviously did for something other than his own selfish desires for revenge," Ventus shrugged in admittance.

Even if it was just the most basic summary, it was enough to satisfy Roxas and Xion in that regard, but it still did not answer the big question that Roxas had asked, so he felt that it needed repeating. "And now? What's going to happen to us?"

"Well, that's up to the both of you," Ventus informed him.

"We have a choice," Xion questioned in surprise.

"Of course. You two have always had a choice. That's part of what brought you here to us: your decision to help Sora was yours alone, after all, and even now, you still have a choice," Ventus replied in a tone that made it seem like it was obvious. "In this case, you have two choices…Well, besides _that_ one." As he said that last part, he nodded towards the digital representation of Sora, and no one needed further clarification on what choice he was talking about. "The two choices are this: on one hand, you can leave this place, and make a life for yourselves in the real Twilight Town. No virtual fabrications, no fancy little tricks. Just you two living peaceful lives, while forgetting about anything else that's going on in other worlds. Figuratively speaking, this time."

The two automatically knew what he meant by that. Ven was basically saying that they could start trying to build up to the lives they had led in the virtual world out in the real world, but at the same time, they would also need to carry on like they did not know anything about other worlds, the Organization, or Keyblades. They would just be going about their days like anyone else in the town, but there was still one small problem that they could see in that option. "What about the Organization? Would they really just leave us alone if we went with that option," Xion questioned, seeing that was a pretty big hole in the plan.

"Probably not. They would likely still try to come after you, but somehow I doubt it. After all, the Organization's going to be having their hands full dealing with something else the minute that Sora wakes up," Ventus reassured them. "Of course, that leads me to the other option for you guys." He then stepped closer to them, with his arm outstretched to offer a hand to them, and said, "You guys can come with me and Sora, help us to stop the Organization's plans, and learn to become true Keyblade masters by becoming my newest apprentices. Sure, you would be a little behind Sora, and he would be your senior sibling disciple, but you would still be getting a chance to learn more about what your now both capable of, and to really get to know Sora himself. You wouldn't just have the memories to go off of, but the actual boy whose life you've seen so much of now, and you would get to share in this new adventure of ours. Either way, you'll get to leave this virtual town and live your own lives. The only difference is where you'll want to go in those lives. So, what do you say?"

Both offers were very tempting. From what they had seen in their recovered memories and in the last few days, Roxas and Xion were not going to kid themselves into thinking that the Organization would really just leave them alone. The group had already sent some of their agents to try and destroy or capture them, so who's to say that they would not send someone else. If they did, then there was a good chance that it would not be someone as merciful as Axel had been, and that would likely mean that people would be in danger. It would be nice to just build a life without constant battles or monsters, but they both felt that they had already been sheltered quite enough as it was. They had spent a lot of time hiding from the Organization, and they felt that it was high time they stopped hiding. Besides, getting the chance to meet Sora for real and even join him on his adventures, and in his training was more than a little tempting for them. If anything, that was the most tempting part of the latter option that Ventus was giving.

It was not just the question of whether or not they wanted to keep the people of Twilight Town safe from the Organization, or even if they wanted to meet Sora for real though. Yes, Roxas and Xion were considering both of those things, but more than that, they wanted to see for themselves just what they could learn about their abilities with the Keyblade. They had already seen a lot of what Sora could accomplish as he studied under Ventus, so why not see if they were capable of the same feats, or even some that Sora was unable to achieve? They felt something inside that was just begging for them to find out, so why ignore it and let the chance slip away? This was probably going to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for them, but even if it was not, they were not too willing to let it pass them by when it was right there waiting and ready for them, and when they looked to one another to see if they were thinking the same thing, they both smiled in relief to see that they were in fact doing so.

When she looked back to Ventus, Xion answer for both herself and her brother, and did so with a determined smile on her face. "We're in. We want to go with you guys, meet Sora for real, and become Keyblade masters."

If it was possible, Ven's smile actually grew even bigger than it already was when he heard those words, and he immediately said, "Good. I was hoping you would say that, but before we do anything else, there are just two more matters that we need to take care of."

"What's that," Roxas asked, sounding a little worried by that statement.

"The first thing involves Xion more than anyone else," Ventus explained, directing his full attention onto said girl. "While Roxas's heart is fully developed, yours isn't. It's still in the process of being…finalized, for lack of a better word. I was honestly hoping that it would be fully formed by the time this process was over, but there are still some points that haven't filled in yet. I'm not sure if it's because of your nature as a Replica, or if it was some act of DiZ's in an attempt to piss one of us off, but it's still something that we can't just leave alone."

"Why? What's wrong with having a heart that's not fully formed," Xion nervously asked. She could not really help it. There was something about this whole thing that made her really worried, and it turned out that her concerns were well founded.

"You see, Xion, without a fully formed heart, you still retain some of your nature as a Replica, and the most dangerous facet of that involves what would follow should something ever happen that leads to your end," Ventus explained, his sorrowful expression showing just how little he enjoyed telling them this. "Since you were made using someone else's memories, those memories would return to their original source after you died, but at the same time, all memory of you as you are…Anything and everything that anyone ever learned about a girl named Xion, would be lost. You would be erased from the memories of everyone you ever encountered, and I don't know if there would be anyway to reverse that, assuming anyone could remember enough to know that it needed to be reversed."

"What," Roxas and Xion both gasped, horrified by that revelation. Someone dying was bad to be certain, but that same person being completely forgotten after they were gone…that was by far a much worse fate.

"If your heart was fully formed, you wouldn't have to worry about that, because it would allow you to escape such a fate," Ventus continued on, hoping to relieve them of at least a little worry. "Now I'm not saying that I intend to let either of you die on this journey that we'll be undertaking, but I most definitely don't want to take any chances either. Losing all memory of someone important to you, even if they are gone forever, is something that no one should have to suffer, because even if you don't remember them, there will still be a trace of their presence deep inside of you, and that will make you feel even worse for not remembering that they're gone."

Neither sibling needed that last part explained aloud, seeing as they had just thought that very thing themselves, but all the same, it was nice to know that Ventus shared their opinion. "Is there any way we can help her heart fully form a little faster," Roxas then asked, going right to the point of the problem. "I mean, can't you use the Keyblade or something to like…cast a healing spell or something that will fill in the gaps?"

"A healing spell? Kid, those things only work on physical injuries, and even if they didn't, filling in the missing pieces of a heart isn't that easy," Ventus immediately rebuffed, sounding like Roxas had just suggested something ridiculous. He quickly turned serious again as he revealed, "The only way to fill in the gaps of a heart that's damaged or the state that Xion's is in, is to fuse it together with the power of another heart."

"Another heart? Well, where the hell are we going to find another heart," Xion asked. When she heard a small cough from her brother, she turned to see him giving her a reproachful look, and then shrugged knowing that it was him silently scolding her for her use of certain language. "Sorry, but it's still a legitimate question."

Ventus merely smiled at the two, both because of their antics, and their question, before summoning his Keyblade, and saying, "Actually, the answer to that problem is actually a lot closer than you think."

What happened next was not something that Roxas or Xion would have expected, and it showed in the gaping expressions they gained after it happened. Just like that, before their eyes, they saw Ventus aim his Keyblade directly at Sora, the tip of the blade glowing a little for a moment, and then fire a beam right into Sora's chest, pulling out a small sphere of light that slowly floated over into Ventus's waiting hand. When the blonde master turned around, the two were still in complete disbelief of what they were seeing, almost to the point where they missed how the orb in his hand seemed to have a few, noticeable cracks running across it. You could not really blame them, since to Roxas and Xion, it looked like Ventus had just pulled Sora's heart out of him. Ventus must have realized this, because after dismissing his Keyblade, he raised his hand to signal for them remain calm. It was not exactly an easy request to fulfill at the moment.

"Did…Did you just…" Xion stuttered, practically on the verge of panicking. After all, they came here to help save Sora, and from where she was standing, Ventus just threw that down the drain.

"Relax. This isn't Sora's heart," Ventus calmly told her. That did serve to sooth the two's worries, but it also left them confused once again. Not that Ventus really needed much more reason to explain what was going on now. "You see, about eleven years ago, there was a very important battle between a group of Keyblade wielders, and some very dangerous people. This battle would have determined the very fate of the worlds and the future, and while the Keybearers were victorious, it did not come without a price. One particular piece of the aftermath was that a Keyblade wielder's heart was seriously damaged, and then sought out shelter where it could recover while the wielder's body was left in a comatose state. That shelter came from the heart of a much younger Sora, and that's where the heart had remained, slowly healing for all these years, while at the same time, providing a small influence in Sora's life. In a way, it's partially because of this heart that belonged to another Keyblade wielder that Sora is able to use the Keyblade."

It may have been a brief summary, but all the same, Roxas and Xion were both left in awe of the story that Ven had just told them, and now, they were gazing upon this fractured heart with eyes that shone like stars. They could not help but feel sad for whoever this heart belonged too, knowing that said person had likely spent years suffering in ways they could likely not comprehend, but they also felt a deep respect for that same wielder. After all, one's heart does not end up in such a state on its own, so they could only assume that the wielder's actions had led to his heart ending up this way, and he had likely taken those actions in order to stop those villains that Ventus mentioned. Of course, their respect for Sora grew as well, because even if he did not realize it, this was proof that the wielder of Kingdom Key was helping others well before he ever obtained the Keyblade. Still, that left one thing unexplained, and Roxas was the first to catch on to it.

"How do you know so much about this," Roxas questioned.

Ventus was silent for a moment, as if running his answer through his head before finding a good way to word it, until he finally revealed, "Because…this heart…was once mine. I was the Keyblade wielder whose heart had been so severely damaged that it had to take shelter inside of Sora's."

"What? But then…how are you…" Xion asked, hardly believing her ears any more than Roxas seemed to.

"Now that is a long story that will come at a much later time," Ventus informed her, hoping to keep them on track regarding the matter at hand. "For now, let's just say that I was lucky enough to receive a very special miracle, and in a way, I'm repeating that same miracle for your sake, Xion."

"What do you mean," Xion asked.

"Well, I'm sure you noticed the cracks here in this heart, right," Ventus asked, nodding to the fractured version of his heart. When the two nodded in reply, Ventus continued, "That's because it's still recovering, even after all this time. However, we don't necessarily need it to be whole for what we need it for right now. You see, Xion, using this fractured version of my heart, we can fill the holes in yours, making it complete. At least, that's the basic idea."

The two looked between the master and the fractured heart in his hand for a minute, before Xion asked the big question. "Would anything happen to me as a result of having this version of heart become a part of mine?"

Ventus furrowed his brow for a moment, thinking it over, before he finally shrugged and admitted, "I really don't know. It won't change anything about you physically or mentally, at least not to any extreme, but whether or not it changes something in a small way…well, that's just something we'll have to wait and see about."

"So there's absolutely no risk to Xion if you implant this into her," Roxas asked, wanting to be sure. After all, Ven was planning to put some strange thing into his sister, so you cannot blame him for being cautious.

"None that I know of," Ventus honestly replied. "In point of fact, she'll be facing a much greater risk without it than she would with it, as I have already mentioned."

Hearing that made things a little easier for Xion to decide on what she should do. Yes, she was not too fond of having someone else's heart inside of her, but like Ven said, it was just going to be filling a few holes in her own heart. Besides, if it was not going to change her in any huge way, then she did not really see any problem in letting Ven do what he intended to. There was just one last thing she needed to know. "What will happen when my heart is fully completed? Will these fragments move back into Sora or you, or will they just stay there?"

"That's also something I'm not so sure about. Like I said, we'll have to wait and see about it to know anything for sure," Ventus shrugged in response.

It may not have been an answer she was hoping to hear, but it was clearly the only one Xion would get for right now. She did not want to think that this fractured version of Ven's heart would be purged from her own when the time came that her heart was fully completed, but at the same time, she had to wonder if it would even matter if these fragments remained at all, given that Ventus was standing before them right as rain. Either way, it was something that they would only find out about in the future, so she simply nodded to let Ventus know she was onboard with his plan, and the Keyblade master then slowly approached her with the fragmented heart still held out towards her. Xion took a deep breath and closed her eyes the minute Ventus reached a certain distance from her, so she did not see what happened when he finally let the fractured heart drift inside of her, not that there was really that much to see, mind you.

From where Roxas was standing, it looked like a fairly simple process. The minute that Ventus was standing directly in front of Xion, he let the fractured heart float up out of his hand. The heart floated in the air for a little bit until it finally entered Xion's chest, and once it had, the girl briefly glowed with a faint light. It was not anything too spectacular or bright, but Roxas could have sworn that he heard a faint bell of some kind ring out when the glow surrounding his sister faded. When Xion opened her eyes again, she quickly looked down at herself, placing one hand over her chest again while she did, and eventually, she found herself smiling a little as an odd feeling washed over her. She was not really sure how to describe it, as no words really came to her mind on the matter. All she knew was that she felt like something inside of her had just come alive in a way that it had never been before, and it was giving her a sense of completion that she did not realize she was missing until now.

When the raven haired girl turned her smile up to Ventus, the Keyblade master smiled in return with a nod, and knew that the first matter they needed to deal with was addressed. That just left the other matter that he mentioned. "Now then, since Xion's now got a full heart at her disposal, let's see if we can persuade your real Keyblades to come out and play at will," the blonde master told the kids.

"Our real Keyblades," Roxas repeated in questioning.

This earned a sigh from Ventus before he commented, "I'd hate to use or even paraphrase words that Riku used when he wasn't himself, but they do still ring true. Two people can't wield the same Keyblade, and in case you hadn't noticed, Kingdom Key already has its own true wielder. The Keyblades that you two had been using so much until that battle with Axel, or even the moment when we were all fighting to get away from the world that the Organization calls home, are merely copies of Sora's Keyblade, something that filled the void until your true Keyblades were ready to be called upon."

"So then…how do you know that we'll be able to summon our real Keyblades now," Xion asked, still not quite over the good feeling she gained when her heart received its little patch up.

"You already are ready. You just need to look past anything and everything about you two that came from Sora, look deep within yourselves, and call out to that one piece of your hearts that determines the shape of your greatest powers," Ventus instructed. "Once you've found it, bring it to the surface, and then call out its true name."

The two then closed their eyes once again, searching for that very feeling that Ven had mentioned, and at first, they did not find anything. It remained that way for what felt like ages, but it was only a matter of minutes before Xion began to feel that very power inside of her, and it prompted her to hold her hand out to her side, like she was about to summon the Keyblade. After holding her arm outstretched for a few seconds, she heard the tell-tale sound of a Keyblade being summoned, and she looked to see the same, black and white blade that she had previously been using against Axel, much to her surprise. As she studied the magnificent blade, she felt as though something were being whispered into her ear, and while it was heard to understand at first, she was able to make sense of it soon enough, and repeated the very name she was hearing aloud for everyone to know. "Two Become One," Xion whispered. "My Keyblade is called Two Become One."

Ventus nodded in approval of this, and when he heard another Keyblade being summoned, he turned to Roxas to see what his fellow blonde's inner search had brought about. When he did lay eyes upon Roxas, it quickly became Ven's turn to be surprised, at least a little bit, as Roxas had summoned not one, but two Keyblades, and they were both Keyblades that Ventus recognized, having seen when the Keychains for those very blades were first created. Still, he did not intend to give Roxas the names, and he was not entirely sure if they were in fact those same Keyblades, so he kept silent, while waiting for Roxas to speak the names himself. When Roxas did speak up, Ventus's suspicion was quickly proven quite true.

"Oathkeeper…and Oblivion," Roxas muttered as he turned from the silver Keyblade to the black one in awe.

"Hey, hold on a minute. How come Roxas gets two," Xion demanded. She was not necessarily upset about the fact; she was glad that she had her own Keyblade, but she did not remember anyone ever saying that someone could wield two Keyblades at once.

"That's…actually a good question," Ventus admitted, surprising both kids with the fact that he did not seem to know. "It would seem that Roxas possess a natural talent for the Sync Blade ability."

"Sync Blade," Roxas asked.

"A very powerful Keyblade ability that most wielders are never able to truly master in their lifetimes. Even the greatest of masters have had difficulty harnessing its power," Ventus explained. "As you can probably guess, the ability allows one to wield two Keyblades at once, but dual wielding such a weapon is not an easy feat, as one must be able to perfectly balance the light and darkness inside of them. Some people have come close with special enchantments, but this is the first time I've ever seen someone being able to use it as naturally as this."

"Maybe it's because I did not have any light or darkness inside of me to balance," Roxas suggested, surprising the two a little. "I mean, I know it's not technically true now, but I did start out as a Nobody, and you said yourself that they belong to either the dark or the light. What if that's part of the reason why I'm able to dual wield Keyblades?"

"That does seem like a reasonable theory, and since your hearts are still relatively new, it would be hard for either side of that coin to be stronger than the other," Ventus nodded in agreement. He quickly shook the matter aside though, and said, "Either way, I don't think it matters too much. Your true Keyblades are now completely available to you both, and with this, you're both ready to finally leave this virtual world. Assuming that you don't have anything else that you wish to do here."

The two shook their heads in the negative with Roxas saying, "We're ready to go at any time."

"Good," Ventus nodded. "Head back to the lab where you saw the main computer. I'm sure I don't need to remind you of where the teleporter is in relation to that." The two confirmed that Ven was correct in his suspicion, and the blonde then said, "Well then, I'll see you both on the other side."

With that final piece said, the Keyblade master vanished in a flash of data, showing that the two had been talking to another virtual avatar. This time though, they were not too upset about it. If anything, they were actually happy about the fact, as it showed that they would not have to worry about whether or not they would be able to get out of this place. If Ventus had sent an avatar of himself to see them, then that most likely meant he was using the computer in the real Twilight Town, so they did not need to worry about whether or not they would need to use the one Roxas had destroyed to get out. Now that they knew this, the two quickly turned to return to the lab, so they finally get out of the virtual world, and meet Sora and his friends for real, along with everyone else in Twilight Town. To be honest, neither of them was sure which they were more excited or nervous about.

* * *

It did not take too long for Roxas and Xion to get back to the lab and step onto the pad that would transport them back to the real Twilight Town, and they quickly discovered that they did not need to give Ventus any kind of signal for him to bring them back, as the device quickly activated as soon as they were in position. A bright light filled their gazes when it did, so they closed their eyes in an effort to block it out until they heard the device go quiet again. Upon opening their eyes, they could not help but think that it did not work at first, seeing as they did not see any differences in their surroundings right away. At least not until they glanced over at the computer and saw that not only was it completely intact, like Roxas had never hit it with his Keyblade, but Ventus was actually getting up from the chair at the computer as well.

"Welcome back," Ventus greeted them with a smile, his helmet still the only piece of his armor that was removed.

The two gave him smiles of thanks in return, but Xion's smile quickly faded a bit when she noticed something. "You really might want to consider shaving or at least doing something to at least make your beard a little neater," the raven haired girl commented. "It may help you look a little more mature, but in the shaggy state you have it in right now…Yeah, it just makes you look like a slob."

"Hey, give me a break. I didn't even know I had grown the thing until just a moment ago, you know," Ventus pointed out in his defense. All the same, he did head Xion's advice and turned to go find a comb and a mirror so that he could straighten out his beard so that it at least did not look like a shaggy mess, telling his two newest apprentices to go and keep an eye on his three sleeping friends until he was finished.

To be quite honest, Roxas and Xion were getting a little tired of walking back and forth down the same corridor so much in such a short span of time. Sure, they knew none of this was just like the one in the virtual town, but given how much of it was a perfect match, they had a hard time really differentiating one from the other for the most part. The only comforting thing about their trip this time was that they knew what to expect this time around, and that there was going to be at least one difference that they could count on taking place in comparison to the first time they came down this corridor. When they arrived in the corridor where Donald and Goofy's pods were located, the two could not help but watch the sleeping cartoon characters in wonder, really feeling just how real they were this time even though they were still asleep, until the pods suddenly came to life and opened up.

The two sleeping occupants did not leave their pods with any grace at all. In point of fact, they both fell out quite unceremoniously. Thankfully, Xion managed to catch Donald before he face-planted on the cold floor, but when Roxas tried the same thing with Goofy, he ended up not being so lucky. No, when Goofy tumbled out, he landed right on top of Roxas and they both ended up on the floor, much to Xion's concern. She was about to rush over and ask if the two were okay, when Donald yawned quite loudly and stretched a bit once he was set down on his feet, apparently unaware of the girl who had caught him when he fell, or of his friend's most recent tumble. Then again, that last part was probably not too surprising, given the knight's name, but she still figured he would be at least a little concerned.

Xion's guess was accurate, because the minute that Donald was fully aware of his surroundings, the first thing he noticed was Goofy lying flat on his face. "Goofy! You okay," Donald quacked in concern.

"I think so," Goofy groaned in reply as he started to stand up. "I'm just glad that there was a pillow to keep me from hitting the floor, even it is pretty lumpy."

"I'm not a pillow! Please get off of me," Roxas shouted from beneath the tall cartoon character, startling Goofy right off of the blonde after he had spoken up.

"Oops! Sorry," Goofy immediately apologized while helping Roxas up again. The minute the blonde was standing though, Goofy's concern was quickly overcome by recognition, and he happily cried out, "Oh, hey there, Ven! Good morning!" The next thing Roxas knew, he was being pulled into a very tight hug by Goofy, and unable to really do anything to break free until Goofy released him. "Gawrsh, I sure hope you're not too upset about how we left you at the camp the other night," Goofy then remarked sheepishly, only stopping when he noticed a few things that were wrong with this picture. "Hey, did you shrink a little or something?"

"Uh…No," Roxas hesitantly replied. "Because I'm not Ventus."

"But you look just like him," Goofy pointed out.

"Yeah, back when he was still in training several years ago," Donald reasoned.

When Xion let out a small cough to get everyone's attention, the other three all turned to her as she said, "You might want to rethink that after you've actually seen Ven."

"Why's that? And who are you," Donald questioned, his eyes narrowing a little at her in suspicion.

"My name's Xion and you've already met my brother, Roxas," the girl replied with a smile. "We're friends of Ven."

"Oh, well it's nice to meet ya, Xion and Roxas," Goofy replied as friendly as ever. "My name's…"

"You're Goofy, and that's Donald," Roxas filled in before the knight could finish.

"Yeah, but how did you know that," Donald asked in surprise.

The two were a bit stuck now, not sure how to respond to that question. On the one hand, they could just say that Ventus told them about the two and Sora, but on the other hand, they did not want to lie to them after just meeting. Still, there was no telling how the two would react if they found out the truth about the siblings, and they were a little afraid of how Sora and Ven's friends would react upon learning who they were. Thankfully, they were saved from saying anything more when Ventus's voice called out, "It's a long story that can wait until later, you guys. I'm just glad you're both awake."

Turning to where the Keyblade master's voice had come from, they all saw that, while he had not seemed to cut off any of the beard, Ventus had in fact groomed it so that it was not a bushy mess, as Xion had described it earlier. Still, even with his new facial hair, Donald and Goofy would have recognized their old friend anywhere, as their excited cheers of joy and the hug they jumped on him indicated. Ventus happily returned said show of affection, but his smile quickly fell a little after Goofy noted, "Hey, how'd you grow a beard so fast, Ven?"

"Is everyone going to take notice of that," Ventus groaned under his breath. He did not expect an answer, and even if he was, he did not wait for one to come, as there were still more important things to think about. "I'll fill you guys in later. Right now, I can't help but notice how a certain apprentice of mine is still absent from this reunion."

The two quickly got the hint, and did not hesitate in rushing into the pod room where Sora was sleeping, with Ventus following at a much more sedated pace than them. Roxas and Xion were quick to bring up the rear, both suddenly feeling like a couple bundles of nerves as the big moment they were waiting for finally approached. You could not really blame them, because in a way, this would be the first time they had ever met Sora, the boy who was so pivotal in the reason behind each of their existences, so in their minds, it was like they were about to meet a long lost family member for the first time. It was only natural that they would feel anxious about the whole thing, but thankfully, the excitement that the other three were feeling managed to help them proceed into the room so that they could witness a hero's return.

"Sora," Donald finally shouted after watching the pod do nothing for a few more minutes.

"Sora, wake up," Goofy called out soon after.

"Come on, kid. You've been napping long enough. It's time to get up and greet the worlds," Ventus finished.

Roxas and Xion both looked on nervously, thinking that there was something wrong when the pod did not do anything in response to the three's calls, when suddenly, they heard machinery coming to life. Seconds later, the pod flashed for an instant, and then opened up like a flower setting into bloom, until it revealed a drowsy Sora rubbing the last fringes of sleep from his eyes before stretching with a yawn. When his eyes came to rest on some of the people in front of him, he immediately jumped out of the pod, stumbling into Donald and Goofy's arms when he landed, clearly not quite used to movement after sleeping for so long, and smiled brightly as he hugged the two who caught him. "Donald! Goofy," Sora cheered happily once he was upright again.

The three then danced about in a circle, all happy to see each other again, until Ventus interrupted, "Hey, what about me? Don't you have time to spare a hug for your master, kid?"

"Ven," Sora cheered once more, and he quickly raced over to grab Ven's hand so that the two could share a quick bro-hug, their smiles wide as can be.

A long yawn brought the celebration to a pause so they could all look to Sora's shoulder just in time to see none other than Jiminy Cricket climbing out of the hood on Sora's jacket. "That was some nap," the chronicler commented as he jumped down onto the floor.

"You mean, we were asleep," Sora questioned, clearly not remembering too well.

"I guess we musta been, or I don't think we'd be so drowsy," Jiminy reasoned with a shrug.

"When do ya think we went to sleep," Goofy asked, but he was only answered with silence from the three recently awakened sleepyheads.

"I think I can help answer that," Ventus revealed to them. "But first, let me ask you all this: what's the last thing you all remember?"

"Uhh…" Donald replied as he and Sora crossed their arms in thought.

"Let's see…" Sora muttered, recounting said things aloud. "We found Kairi…defeated Ansem, or Xehanort's Heartless…restored peace to the worlds…Oh yeah, and then we went to look for Riku, Master Aqua, and the king. Is that about right so far?"

"Yep, just about," Ventus confirmed. "And what about afterwards?"

The four were silent once again, each of them trying to remember but drawing up nothing but a blank, until Goofy looked to the one person who was most likely able to give them a few clues that would jog their memories. "What does your journal say, Jiminy?"

Eager to remember as well, the cricket immediately reached into his pocket so that he could retrieve the written text, and opened up to the last page he had been writing on, only to gasp in shock at what he found. "Gee, there's only one sentence…" he revealed. "But I don't understand how that could be. I'm always so careful with the journals."

"Some journal that is," Donald grumbled in annoyance. "Well what _does_ it say?"

"'Thank Naminé,'" Jiminy read aloud, and as expected, that one piece of text did nothing to help any of the four's memories. "I wonder who that is," Jiminy wondered.

"A very good friend who was forced to do something she did not want to by a very bad group," Ventus informed them. "Although, part of it was because she wanted to find some real friends as well, but she knew that doing so in that way was wrong, so she made it a mission to reverse the process. It's taken about a year or so, but from the look of things, you guys are definitely back to your old selves again."

"A year?!" the four all shouted in shock.

"Afraid so," Ventus nodded in reply, his smile never faltering at all. "Which is why I'm saying that it's great to see you all again."

"Same here, even if it does include having to see that ridiculous beard of yours," Sora joked in response, his hands already resting behind his head as an extra show of his playfulness.

Ventus scowled a little at first, but he was soon smirking again when he delivered a little rib of his own in return. "Nice outfit by the way, Sora. I didn't know that it was in fashion to wear something that was several sizes too small."

Hearing that was what allowed Sora to finally realize that his outfit from their previous adventures no longer fit him like it should, and prompted Donald and Goofy to begin laughing at his expense over the fact when they realized this as well. Sora eventually joined in the laughter as well, though mostly to show that he did feel pretty silly wearing clothes that were too small for him now, before he finally mentioned, "So, how come we don't remember anything about meeting Naminé or how she helped us?"

"Now that is quite the long story, so for now, you'll have to settle for the short version," Ventus revealed. "You see, once we set up camp for the night after chasing Pluto for an entire day, you guys ended up landing yourselves in a trap set by that group I mentioned before. That trap being in a place called Castle Oblivion, and the longer you stayed there, the more memories of our previous adventure you lost. That was mainly because of what that group had forced Naminé to do to you, and by the end of things, you would've become an unwitting tool of the person running things in the castle at the time. Thankfully, Naminé managed to come and help save you all from that fate, and at a time when she would be able to reverse the damage, but there was a catch."

"A catch," Goofy asked.

"Yeah," Ven nodded. "In order to set things right again, Naminé ended up having to erase all memory of your time in Castle Oblivion, which meant that you would lose all the memories you had of her as well. That's why Jiminy made that note in his journal, so you would remember to thank her for what she did to help you."

"Aw phooey. Now I feel awful for not remembering any of that," Donald sighed sadly.

"Yeah, I know it isn't entirely out faults, but I do still wish that I could remember her doing all of that," Goofy agreed.

"Well then, I guess we'll just have to meet up with her so that we can become friends all over again," Sora decided, showing his optimistic nature in just that one sentence.

Ventus was glad to hear him say that. It had been far too long since he had been in the presence of Sora's optimism, and that made this whole reunion feel like a much needed breath of fresh air. "Glad to hear you say that, but that reunion will have to wait. Namine's actually not here right now," Ventus revealed. "She had to leave before something really bad happened to her, so it may be a while before you can talk with her again."

"Well so long as we know she's out there, and as long as we remember her in our hearts, we'll be sure to see her again really soon, just like we'll see all of our other friends again, too. I just know it," Goofy reassured him, not sounding the least bit worried.

"Yeah, Goofy's right. After all, you can't ever forget about your friends, no matter what," Donald agreed.

When Sora nodded in agreement with their sentiment, Ventus could not help but grin a little wider, glad to see that his friends and apprentice were all still themselves after what had happened. "Good, but there's one more thing that we need to talk about before we do anything else," the blonde then said, confusing the three a bit when he did. Their confusion quickly died though, but only because of what happened after Ventus clenched one hand into a fist.

"OW! Hey, what's the big idea," Donald snapped after getting socked in the head by Ventus.

"Ouch! That hurt," Goofy exclaimed after Ventus landed a blow to his head as well.

"OW! Hey, what did you do that for," Sora whined after Ventus slapped him upside the head. The only reason that Ven did not punch Sora was because the kid was the last of the group to wake up, and the only reason why he was not hitting Jiminy at all was because he did not want to send the little guy flying across the room as a result.

"That's for rushing off on your own without thinking again," Ventus snapped at all three of them. "Honestly, how many times do I have to tell you guys not to do that before it finally sinks into those thick skulls of yours?"

All three of the boys that were just hit had enough decency to look sheepish, knowing that Ven had a point in that regard. They did in fact do that, and that was what had ended up landing them in that trap, so they could not argue with the blonde master's words. Even Jiminy looked ashamed, as he had not really done anything to deter them from their chosen course of action. At least not as far as he could remember. In the end, they all hung their heads in shame while Sora said the only thing any of them could think of to say. "Sorry, Ven," Sora apologized.

Ven nodded in acceptance of the apology, before saying, "I just hope that this whole experience will have helped to teach you all better for the future. After all, Sora, I can't have you setting a bad example for your juniors."

"My juniors," Sora asked in curiosity.

At that point, Ventus turned around, allowing Sora to see the last two people in the room at last, and beckoned said two forward so that he could introduce them to his first apprentice. "Sora, I'd like you to meet Xion and Roxas," Ventus announced. "The two newest wielders of the Keyblade, and as of just recently, your sibling disciples, since I've just taken them on as my newest apprentices."

"Seriously," Sora asked in surprise, staring widely at the two after he heard that.

"Can you do that," Donald questioned Ventus, not really sure if his taking on two more apprentices was really a good idea.

"Of course I can. After all, Master Eraqus trained me, Aqua, and Terra together, and I was a pretty good ways behind Aqua and Terra when I first joined them," Ventus reassured him.

The three apprentices on the other hand, were all just staring at each other in silence, though this was more due to the nervousness and shyness that Roxas and Xion were feeling at the moment. Sora was not really sure what to say either, but he did feel like he needed to say something so that the new guys would know that he was happy to have them on board with them. He just was not sure what to say. The others had even decided to watch for how this confrontation would play out, upon realizing that neither side was really doing or saying anything to one another, and for a moment, Ventus was beginning to worry a little about how good of an idea this was. At least until one of them finally plucked up enough courage to at least say something.

"Um…H-hi Sora. It's nice to finally meet you," Xion stuttered with a shy wave.

Sora was a little confused about what she meant with her latter statement, but for the moment, he did not think it really mattered too much. So, he simply smiled and said, "Nice to meet you guys, too. Can't wait to see what you guys will be able to do with your Keyblades once Ven's started your training."

"Yeah, that makes two of us," Roxas admitted. "I just hope the three of us will be able to get along."

"Of course we will," Sora replied like it was obvious. "After all, we're practically like siblings now since we're all training under the same master."

 _"You don't know the half of it,"_ Roxas and Xion both quietly thought while they smiled back at Sora in return.

"Well then, here's to working together and the fun times it will bring," Roxas decided.

"I can agree with that. It's gonna be a lot more fun now that there are more people closer to my age in this group, and now that there are more people training to become Keyblade masters along with me," Sora grinned in agreement.

"Well just promise you'll go easy on us in any sparring matches. We are kind of new at the whole Keyblade thing," Xion joked in response, earning a round of laughter from her brother and Sora, while the others all sighed in relief, glad to see that the three were already getting along so well.

None of them were happier about that fact than Ventus, and he likely would have let the three spend a bit more time getting to know one another, but there was something else that he wanted to do even more. "So, how about we all finally get out of here," the blonde master suggested. "I don't know about you guys, but I've had about enough of this place, and I'm ready to hit the road. You can all talk and get better acquainted as we head into the town."

Everyone agreed with that idea, and with that, they all turned to leave the mansion at last. Of course, only Roxas and Xion were able to fully agree with Ven's sentiment about having had enough of this place. Not that anyone could blame them. Those two had spent quite a long time cooped up in the building without ever really knowing it for certain.

* * *

The trip from the mansion and into town seemed rather short to most of the group, but no one missed how Roxas and Xion were looking every which way at their surroundings, as if they were taking everything in for the first time. In fairness, this was the first time that they had seen the real Twilight Town, but what was really leaving them so amazed was how much everything was like the virtual copy that they had been living in for such a long time, at least as far as Market Street went. The only difference was that one of the candy shops was in the midst of changing ownership at the moment, much to their dismay, but thankfully, McDuck's Tasty Treat Parlor was still around. Speaking of McDuck, Xion was especially glad to see that _DuckTales_ was a real show as well, as evidenced by how she was grinning from ear to ear the minute she saw it playing on the television in a store window, and Roxas could not help but chuckle a little in amusement at his sister's little moment of fangirl-ing.

Sora on the other hand was not entirely sure what Xion was so excited about when he noticed her staring so intently at the screen, and as a result, he failed to see Roxas quietly warning him to not ask the question he did. "What's the big deal about this show," Sora had inquired of the girl.

Xion spun around so fast that Sora could not help but think she might have given herself whiplash just now, and he also could have sworn that her hair sounded like a whip being cracked when she fully faced him. Neither of those things was as shocking as the stunned look on her face, or the incredulous tone of her voice when she asked him, "You've never heard of _DuckTales_?!"

"Uh…Not that I can remember," Sora hesitantly admitted.

"Oh here we go," Roxas sighed in defeat, knowing that there was no stopping Xion's big rant about how great the show was now.

"It's only the greatest thing in all the worlds," Xion cheered. "It's basically a documentary about the founder of the Tasty Treat Parlor, who's also the greatest adventurer in all of the worlds! He's done everything from battling pirates, scaring off a lion by letting out a mighty roar of his own, bested numerous curses, and rediscovered lost treasure, and most of that's just from when he was younger and starting out as adventurer!"

"Wow! Sounds awesome," Sora grinned in equal awe. "What's this guy's name anyway?"

Xion was about to answer, when Donald suddenly interrupted as he shouted, "Hey, I think there's something back here down this alleyway!"

Turning to see where Donald was indicating, Roxas and Xion both quickly recognized the alley that the duck was talking about, and they had a good feeling that they knew who was likely going to be down there right now. With that in mind, the two both raced forward, taking the lead from Ventus and Goofy when they did, and they did not seem like they were going to stop until Sora suddenly said something that caught them off guard. "You know, I think I've been to this town before."

"Really? When," Goofy questioned, not noticing the looks that were exchanged between their two newest friends.

Sora crossed his arms in thought, trying to think of an answer to Goofy's question, but ultimately came up with nothing, so he simply shrugged and said, "Guess I must've imagined it."

Roxas and Xion were both about to say something to explain why Sora might have felt that way, but Ventus quickly caught onto that and shook his head to say that they should not. The two wanted to protest, feeling that Sora had a right to know the truth about them, but they ended up heeding Ven's advice when he quietly mouthed to them, "Not yet."

The two quickly gave Ven a discreet nod in return before turning to head into what they knew to be the usual spot, and upon walking inside, they were delighted and relieved to see that Hayner, Pence, and Olette were all there. It was really good to know that those three were real and not just some fantasy that was made up by DiZ or something, but they were quickly reminded of another fact of reality when the three turned towards them with confusion, while Hayner's gaze was a bit more suspicious. "What do you want," Hayner demanded, not sounding the least bit friendly.

"Uh, nothing. Just wondering what was back here," Sora quickly reassured him.

"Now you know. This is our spot," Hayner curtly informed them, but did not say much more when Pence suddenly stood up and gave the six an odd, confused look.

"You're…new around here, right," the heavy-weight boy finally asked.

"More or less," Roxas replied on the group's behalf, his smile not quite reaching his face all the way. He was glad to see his and Xion's friends, but it was still a hurtful reminder that to these three, they had never met before now. Still, it was comforting to know that they were pretty similar to the way they were in the virtual town.

"Cool. I'm Pence, by the way," the heavy-weight boy introduced.

"Hayner. Nice to meet you," the gang's leader greeted. He then paused for a minute as he looked at Roxas and Xion before he said, "You know, you two look kinda familiar. Have I seen you around before?"

"I don't think so," Xion shrugged, feeling the same way as her brother about this little reunion, but she was still doing an impressive job of keeping her composure so that they would not freak the three out.

Hayner shrugged at this and then turned to leave as he said, "Well, whatever. We've got stuff to do right now, so catch ya later."

The lone girl of the group gave Hayner a disapproving look for his attitude towards the newcomers before she directed a smile at the six and said, "Sorry about him. Hayner's really not a bad guy, but he does take some time to really warm up to people."

"Don't worry about it. My sister and I knew another guy just like that," Roxas reassured her.

She nodded in reply to that before she introduced herself to them, and figured she should move on to another topic to better break the ice. "My name's Olette. Hey, did you finish up the summer homework yet? Independent studies are the worst, huh?"

"Tell me about it," Xion agreed, while Sora, Donald, and Goofy just exchanged confused looks in an attempt to figure out what Olette was talking about.

"So, what're your names," Pence asked.

"I'm Roxas," the younger blonde of the six-person group replied. "This is my sister, Xion, and our friends, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Ventus."

"You can just call me Ven," the Keyblade master informed the two.

"Hey there," Sora waved, while Donald and Goofy silently nodded with a smile.

Olette and Pence suddenly exchanged a surprised look at that information, before the former informed them, "You know, we just met someone who was looking for all of you."

"For us," Xion inquired.

"Yeah, and he sure seemed in a hurry," Pence confirmed. "He had a black coat on so I couldn't see his face, but he had these big round ears."

Hearing that the person looking for them wore a black coat that hid his face had automatically made Roxas and Xion think of the Organization, but they quickly calmed down at the mention of the mystery person having big round ears. Even if their memories of that time were a little sketchy, at best, they knew for a fact that no one in the group had any distinctive features like that. Still, it left them wondering as to who else it could have been, until Donald thought of the one person it could have most likely been. "The king," the duck sorcerer exclaimed.

"Yep! It's gotta be him," Goofy agreed.

"Where'd you see him," Sora quickly asked.

"At the station," Pence replied.

"Got it. Thanks," Ventus nodded in reply, glad to hear that his old friend and former master was now apparently on this world. Though he was still remaining a little skeptical of the fact until they actually saw the person in question, so it was understandable that he was not jumping for joy like the rest of his friends just yet.

The two locals nodded in return before saying that they were going to get back to their assignment and moving to leave. Just before they were out of sight though, Xion called out, "You know, I've heard a few people around town talking about something called the Seven Wonders of Twilight Town. Maybe you could try investigating them for your assignment."

Pence and Olette both paused for a minute to think about that before they grinned in excitement as Pence cheered, "Hey, that's a great idea! Thanks Xion."

The raven haired girl nodded in response to the two and then watched as they took off to find Hayner so they could tell him about their new subject, leaving the other six free to discuss any matter that they wished. Not that they were really too picky on what they should talk about right now. "Oh boy," Donald cheered once again. "The king's trying to find us!"

"Yeah, so let's get to the station," Sora suggested.

"Hold on, you two. Let's not just to conclusions just yet," Ventus cautioned. "For all we know, it could be a trap that someone's setting up for us."

"Does that mean we're not gonna go," Goofy asked in dismay.

"I never said that. I'm just saying we should use caution when we get there, just to be safe. After all, I don't think any of you want to end up in a state where you'll have to be asleep for another year, do you," Ventus reminded them. The three in question shook their heads in the negative, and upon seeing that they were definitely going to be more cautious in their approach, Ventus turned to Roxas and Xion and said, "All right, you two know this town the best out of all of us, so we'll follow your lead up to the station."

"Right," Roxas and Xion both nodded in response, and they all quickly raced up to the station plaza.

* * *

Since the usual spot was not too far from the station, it did not take too long for the group to reach their destination, but they were all a little disappointed to see that there was no sign of the king anywhere. In fact, the whole area seemed to be completely void of any life, and as far as Roxas and Xion knew, that was not normal for this area. In the virtual version of Twilight Town, there was almost always someone coming to or from the station for one reason or another, especially when the underground tunnels were closed for whatever reason, which left the train as the only way to get to Sunset Terrace. Seeing the plaza so vacant was very disconcerting, and made them think that Ventus was right to assume that this whole thing may have been a trap. Their suspicions were only more reinforced when suddenly, several Dusks materialized up from the ground around them, surrounding the group in an instant, and shocking Sora, Donald, and Goofy at the sudden appearance of the strange creatures, while Ventus just summoned out Guardian Wind while glaring at them.

"Should've known that we wouldn't be able to shake these guys that easily," Ventus grumbled as he glanced around at the creatures, worry evident in his eyes. Roxas and Xion had only just gained their own Keyblades and left a very intense battle not that long ago, so he figured that they were probably tired, and after dealing so many Nobodies himself in the hopes of keeping the siblings and everyone else at the mansion safe until the other three had fully reawakened, Ventus was not feeling too well-rested either. Add in the fact that Sora, Donald, and Goofy had just woken up after being in those pods for a year, and were likely still feeling a little out of it and sluggish, and Ven was not really liking their odds at the moment. Still, that did not mean any of them were going to go down without a fight, and Sora proved that soon enough.

"Well if these guys are looking to cause trouble, then they picked the wrong team to mess with," Sora declared as he called Kingdom Key into his hand, while Donald and Goofy summoned forth their own weapons. There was just one problem, and he quickly noticed it and pointed it out to the two it would be affecting the most. "Uh guys…what happened to your weapons? I thought you two were still using your most powerful shield and staff."

When they heard Sora's question, Donald and Goofy both looked to their respective weapons, and let out gasps of shock at seeing that they were in fact using their usual, standard shield and staff. "Hey, what happened to Save the King and the Save the Queen," Goofy asked in a panicked tone.

"Oh yeah. I guess I forgot to mention that," Ventus sheepishly chuckled. "When you guys fell into that trap at Castle Oblivion, all the weapons you had on you at the time were completely disenchanted save for your regular ones and Sora's Keychains. I was able to retrieve both of them, but when I took them to Yen Sid and Merlin, they both told me the only way to get Save the King and Save the Queen back to what they once were, was to have the Moogles either reforge or repair them, and you know how Moogles can be."

Both Disney Town residents groaned in dismay when they heard that, going so far as to even hang their heads in sadness, despite the dangerous situation that they were caught in, while Sora pointed out, "But didn't you guys say that those weapons were made by the most powerful wizard that the king ever knew?"

"Yes, but that doesn't mean that said wizard did everything by himself," Ventus countered.

"Well either way, we can make do! We don't need no stinkin' super shield and mega staff to beat bad guys," Donald declared, and just to prove his point, he immediately let out a powerful blast of lightning bolts on the Dusks that were directly in front of him.

Donald's magical lightning strike wiped out its targets in an instant, and served as the signal for everyone to begin fighting, with Goofy making the next strike by slamming his shield into several different Dusks at once. After bashing a few more, Goofy then tossed his shield at a Dusk that was about to jump at Xion, and the enchanted metal disk immediately sliced through the silver monster before it could get within a hairs breath of the girl. Xion spared Goofy a quick nod of thanks before summoning out Two Become One and joining the battle as well, slashing and slicing through any Dusk that dared to get close to her. At one point, she used the momentum of one of her swings to spin around on one foot, and then let loose a quick ice spell from her free hand, much to Sora's surprise. It was understandable, as he had not even learned how to use magic until after he started training under Ventus, let alone casting spells without using the Keyblade as the method of directing those spells, so the fact that Xion was already able to do both of those things was definitely impressive.

Of course, that was not quite as impressive as what he saw when he turned to see how Roxas was doing, and saw the boy who looked so much like Ven using not one, but two Keyblades. It was not just the fact that Roxas was using two Keyblades though that had caught Sora's attention, but rather, it was the Keyblades that Roxas was using that had left Sora so surprised, as he recognized both of those blades. "You're the chosen wielder for Oathkeeper _and_ Oblivion," Sora questioned Roxas aloud.

"And he can use two Keyblades at once, too," Goofy added on, while Donald just let out a simple wow at the sight of Roxas spinning around both Keyblades as he sliced through Dusk after Dusk in quick succession like a pro.

"Apparently," Roxas said in answer to Sora's question before moving on to Goofy's. "To be honest, the whole dual wielding thing was a surprise for me, too."

"Hey guys, we can compare abilities later. Fight now, talk later," Xion shouted as she spun around and slashed through three Dusks at once, before kicking another one away from her. She then leapt at the Dusk she kicked down and stabbed her Keyblade into it upon landing, and then aimed Two Become One at another Dusk so that she could fire off another blast of ice magic.

Everyone had to agree with Xion on that front, and quickly resumed fighting. In no time at all, Ventus had even gone so far as to try and summon out his Unique Tier Two Command Style, but unfortunately, he was only able to gather up enough energy to use his Tier One Command Style, Fever Pitch, and even then, one could tell by how faint the glow around him was that said ability was much weaker than it usually was. Ventus waved it off for now, feeling that he could still make do, and immediately used the speed boost that Fever Pitch provided him to make quick work of several Dusks that were still coming after them. Instead of using his finisher for said ability though, Ven directed his Keyblade over the various enemies so that he could fire off the Meteor Shower Shotlock, and blasted all of the recently arrived Dusks into oblivion as a result.

Ven was not the only one to unleash a Shotlock, as Sora was soon unloading his own, personal Shotlock, Typhoon Barrage, and many of the group were soon watching the Dusks get vaporized by a few pairs of energy projectiles, or getting blown away by the whirlwinds that said projectiles released upon impact with their targets. Having seen this ability several times before, Donald and Goofy did not hesitate to take advantage of when the whirlwinds blew an enemy closer to them, and quickly dealt a final blow to said Dusks. Roxas and Xion took a little bit longer in doing the same, but in their defense, they were seeing Sora use one of his own unique abilities in person for the first time, and it was a sight to behold, so you could probably forgive them for taking a moment to stop and watch for a minute or two. When Sora jumped back and began floating a little higher in the air, they were then treated to the sight of the spiky haired brunet spinning around rapidly while unleashing magic beams of light from his Keyblade, accompanied by an equally powerful barrage of strong winds.

 _"I wonder how long it'll be until me and Roxas will learn to do stuff like that,"_ Xion could not help but think as she quickly parried a strike from a Dusk, having been nearly caught off guard because of how intently she was gaping at Sora's display of strength.

Unfortunately, said display ended up being a little more taxing for Sora than he realized, because when his feet met the ground again, he was panting quite heavily, and seemed to have trouble properly standing up. Ventus was no better off, because while using both a Shotlock and his Unique Command Style in quick succession may have been a feat he could normally pull off quite easily, he was normally much more well-rested when he did. Fighting against so many Nobodies at once like he had been earlier and then getting thrown into another fight so soon afterwards would have left anyone tired, and Ven was no exception. Add in the fact that the Dusks seemed to just keep coming in an endless number of waves, and the blonde master was just glad that he was able to remain standing a little more easily than his two old friends from Disney Town, because Donald and Goofy soon ended up dropping to the ground out of exhaustion. After slashing through a few more Dusks though, Sora ended up falling back on his butt as well, and Roxas and Xion were not too far behind, though they ended up dropping to one knee, while the former tried using Oblivion as a crutch for him to rest against.

Ventus likely would have moved to try and keep the other five safe from further attacks while continuing to fight, but at that point, he could feel any remaining adrenaline in his body begin to run dry, and he was soon falling down to one knee as well, too tired to really do more than cast some basic level magic spells or raise his Keyblade up in a feeble defense. When one, particular Dusk suddenly rushed at Sora, the young boy had immediately done the same as his master, at least in the case of the latter action, while his eyes snapped shut, not wanting to see what would happen in the next instant. He would soon be wishing that he had kept his eyes open, because they all were soon on the receiving end of not a finishing blow, but a miraculous rescue.

Just when the five Dusks that were now surrounding them were about to strike, a small figure in black dropped down from above, and made quick work of each Dusk. It was hard to really keep track of this figure's movements, even if some of the group had kept their eyes open so that they could watch, but it was still easy to see when he jumped and spun around the Dusks before ending them with each strike of his blade. The last two Dusks fell when the mystery figure jumped up into the air, and struck them both down before somersaulting around and landing on his feet again, with his back facing the group and his arms spread out like he was ready for another fight. Since their rescuer had finally stopped moving, and there did not seem to be any more enemies coming to attack them, the six finally managed to get a good look at said individual, and even though he was mostly obscured by the black coat he was wearing, they were still able to figure out who he was when they took notice of his more apparent features. The first was the fact that he was shorter than all of them, and the second was his rather large, round ears. While the second one would normally have been enough for most of them, it was the third and final thing they noticed that helped them to confirm who this was. This was the fact that he was wielding a Keyblade that looked almost exactly like the Kingdom Key, expect with the color scheme reversed.

"Your Majesty," Donald exclaimed as he and Goofy jumped on top of Sora in their haste to get a better look at the king of Disney Town.

Ventus was about to say said king's name aloud, when Mickey raised a hand to signal for quiet and said, "Shh! You gotta board the train and leave town. The train knows the way." He then jumped a little closer to the group, not once turning around so they could see his face, and held something out to Ventus. "Here, take this. A friend made sure to keep it safe, just like you asked him to."

When Ventus accepted the item in question, Roxas and Xion both let out silent gasps upon seeing that it was the same munny pouch that the man in the black coat had pickpocketed off of Roxas a few days ago, right down to the very last detail. "Where did…How did he get that," Roxas whispered, to which Xion could only shrug.

Ventus on the other hand let a discreet smile cross his face, until he and the others all turned to see Mickey running off towards the town. Donald was about to chase after him, but the king was already too far away for any of them to have caught up, and Ven knew that the minute Mickey was out of sight, they would never be able to find him, at least not without spending several hours looking at least. By that time, more Nobodies would arrive to attack them, and Mickey would likely be long gone, so the only thing they could do was let him go for now. Still, some of them were questioning whether or not that was actually Mickey that they just saw.

"The King…Was that really him," Sora asked.

"Yep, I know it was," Goofy confidently cheered.

"Now we know he's okay," Donald smiled widely, while Sora crossed his arms in thought, earning him the attention of Xion and Roxas.

"Is something wrong, Sora," Xion asked on behalf of herself and her brother. "You look like you've suddenly gotten a load of questions on your mind."

"Well I wouldn't say that. It's just that…," Sora reassured her before he stopped short and turned to Ventus and his other two friends. "The King was locked in the Realm of Darkness with Master Aqua and Riku, right?"

"Uh-huh," Goofy confirmed.

"But we just saw him," Sora continued. "And if the King is here, that means Riku's here, and maybe Master Aqua, too!"

"Yeah, they've gotta be," Donald agreed.

Ventus on the other hand actually paused for a minute in silence. Normally, one would think that he was trying to figure out how he had not thought of that before now, but in truth, he had come to a similar realization a long time ago when his path did in fact cross with Mickey's, if only for a brief moment. At the time, Mickey was alone and already wearing an Organization coat so that he could gather information on the group, much like Ventus was, and the minute he saw his old friend, Ventus wanted to know where Riku and Aqua were, the latter more so than the former. Before he could ask though, Mickey preempted his question and explained that he and Riku had gotten separated recently, while Aqua had gone her own way a short time before that, only saying that it was past time for her to take on an assignment that she had been forced to put off for far too long now. Ven did not really know what that could have meant, and Mickey seemed to be just as much in the dark on that answer as he was. Still, he did admit that it was good to know that their three missing friends were safe outside the Realm of Darkness, so he was not going to deny Sora the relief of knowing that information.

"Hey wait, did you know about that, Ven," Sora suddenly asked, making Ventus realize that he must have been a little too transparent in his thoughts on that matter than he wanted to be, and from the look his first apprentice was giving him, Ventus knew that Sora was not going to take anything but the truth for an answer, or at least something close to it. For the moment though, Ventus could only give him the latter.

"I had a hunch for a little while, but I couldn't act on it right away. I was a little busy keeping an eye out for all of you," Ventus revealed. "Besides, I made a promise that I wouldn't say anything before the time was right."

"Oh…" Sora nodded, looking a little sad at first, but he quickly perked up afterwards. "Well, I guess I can't blame you for keeping that a secret. After all, you didn't want us to blame ourselves for keeping you from trying to reunite with Aqua, right?"

Ventus did not say anything, but he did smile in return, and that proved to be enough for Sora. That just left one thing unanswered. "So, what are we going to do now," Roxas inquired.

"Well, I'm gonna go look for Riku. Then he and I can go back to the islands together. Kairi's there waiting for us," Sora explained in answer.

"More so in your case than Riku's," Ventus teased as he rubbed Sora's head in an affectionate noogie. "Don't think that you're going to be doing anything without me though. After all, I wouldn't be much of a good master if I let one of my apprentices go off on his own after he's just woken up after a year, and likely needs a few refresher courses."

"So does that mean that Roxas and I are tagging along as well," Xion eagerly asked, hoping that the answer was yes.

"Naturally," Ventus replied. "Like we're going to put off your training for any reason right after I just took you both on as my newest apprentices."

"Yes," Xion cheered, while Roxas grinned in equal excitement.

Sora then turned to the last two members of the group and asked, "What about you guys? What are you two gonna do?"

Donald and Goofy's both groaned a little in response, before the latter asked, "Gawrsh, Sora. Do ya have to ask?"

Normally, one of the others would have given a rather obvious answer or even just a joke in response, but at the moment, the only response that any of the Keyblade wielders could give was to uncontrollably laugh at the two. "Hey! What's so funny," Donald squawked, jumping up and down in anger a little.

"Sorry, it…it's just…" Xion tried to say through her giggles, but she could not get out much more than that.

"Your faces," Sora finished while clutching his chest in an attempt to control his chuckles.

"That's gotta be one of the silliest things I've ever seen," Roxas added as he too kept laughing.

That prompted Donald and Goofy to turn to look at each other, and while they did see that their expressions were meant to look a little indignant, they came out looking rather ridiculous, and like that, they were both joining the other four in laughing at the silly expressions. In a way, this actually reminded Ventus a little of when Sora first met him, Donald, and Goofy, and to be quite honest, he was glad that particular bit of history seemed to be repeating itself. After all, there was no better way to start a new adventure than by sharing a few laughs with some good friends, old or new. Eventually, the laughter did have to come to an end so the work could begin, but when it did, no one seemed to be too worried about anything, and Ventus hoped that would not change at any point too soon.

"Well guys, looks like we're all sticking together for one more journey," Ventus observed, looking at the assembled group as a whole. "And this time with even more friends."

"Yeah, and we wouldn't have it any other way," Sora grinned excitedly, the others all mirroring his expression with smiles of their own. At least until the boy asked his next question. "So…where are we going again?"

"We hafta board the train," Goofy reminded him.

"The King just told us two seconds ago," Roxas added on.

"Oh yeah," Sora remembered with a smile that did not seem the least bit sheepish, drawing a tired sigh from Donald while Roxas could not help but roll his eyes a little.

Xion stared at Sora in disbelief for a minute, before she looked to Ven and asked, "Is short-term memory loss a side-effect from their sleeping in those pods for so long, or is that just normal for him?"

"I'm pretty sure that it was the pods, but I'm not entirely certain," Ventus shrugged. "All I knew about the things was that they would put these guys' memories back to the way they were while they were sleeping in them. Everything else about how the things worked was just way over my head."

Whether Sora's sudden moment of short-term memory loss was a side-effect of his extensive nap in the pod or not would have to wait though, because they did still have a train to catch, and Sora had no problem leading the way into the station and up to the ticket counter. The minute the group walked inside, Roxas and Xion instantly caught sight of the ghost train from yesterday waiting at the platform, and somehow they just knew that it was waiting for all of them. A quick glance in Ven's direction confirmed that for the two, as he instantly smiled in response before going to purchase their tickets. Just as he was about to speak the teller, they all heard someone shouting for them to wait, and they turned to see Hayner, Pence, and Olette rushing to catch up with them.

"What're you guys doing here," Sora asked.

"We came to see you off," Pence told them, surprising the group of six a little. "It just seemed like something we oughta do."

"Oh…really? Thanks," Xion smiled in response, glad to see that the three had gone so far to do that even though they had all only just officially met a few minutes ago. It actually reminded her of just how good a group of people these guys were to her and Roxas while they were in the virtual Twilight Town, and it seemed like they were just as good here in reality as well. That did not distract her from the odd look Hayner was giving her and Roxas.

"Hey Roxas, Xion…" Hayner started to say, only find himself unable to finish for whatever reason.

"What's up," Roxas asked when Hayner did not say anything more after a few minutes.

Hayner did not say anything for a few more minutes, but eventually, he did answer by simply saying, "Nothing. Forget about it."

"If you're sure," Roxas shrugged in reply, knowing that whatever it was that Hayner had on his mind would come out eventually.

The sound of a boarding alarm coming from the platforms drew them out of their moment of contemplation, and reminded them that they needed to hurry if they wanted to get on the train in time. The ghost train may not have been one of the normal lines, but that did not mean it was going to wait around forever for them. At least, most of them did not think it would, but some were still a little unsure about that. Whatever the case, it did not change that they had to hurry, and Olette pointed that out when she said, "You all should hurry and get your tickets."

"Way ahead of you," Ventus informed the girl as he approached the ticket booth, pulling out the pouch that Mickey had given them as he went.

When she saw the pouch in Ven's hand, Olette let out a confused gasp, pulling everyone's attention over to her as she pulled out her own pouch, as if to make sure that it was still there. She was relieved to find that it was, but that did not help her confusion, nor did Goofy's comment when he saw Olette's bag. "They're the same," the knight said.

"Yeah," Olette confirmed. "But I made this one myself, so that shouldn't be possible."

"Maybe…whoever made that one…had a similar artistic vision," Roxas feebly offered up, not sure if anyone would believe him if he said that it came from a virtual world. Xion would have placed her hand to her head in disbelief at Roxas's half-baked lie, but for the moment, she just smiled with a shrug, hoping that it would help convince them at least a little bit.

In the end, hearing Ventus order six tickets for the mystery train was what ultimately brought the subject to a close, but somehow, the siblings knew that this would most likely not be the last time they heard about the virtual world that they had been living in until just recently. They shook that off though, as they were more than eager to put that time behind them, but when they looked up at the platform, they soon became overcome with a sense of foreboding that they did not expect. Apparently, Sora shared that same feeling, as he seemed to be just worried as they were and a bit sad about it as well, and when he explained why he was feeling that way, Roxas and Xion both had to admit that it was the very same reason for them.

"I can't help feeling like we won't see this town again," Sora admitted, frowning.

The Twilight Town kids all looked a bit confused by Sora's statement, but Roxas and Xion both nodded in agreement, as the former said, "Yeah…I'm getting the same feeling, too."

"So am I," Xion added sadly.

"Why not," Donald asked, only to be met with silence from all three.

Ventus had a small hunch as to why they were worried, and quickly decided that he needed to give them some reassurance that would ease their concerns at least a little bit. "Don't be too sad, you three. We'll be able to come back soon enough. You'll see, and even if we don't, what's important is that we remember all the good times we had here."

"If you say so," Roxas shrugged, not sure if he completely agreed with that. After all, most of the good memories he had of this town were all things he had been through in that virtual Twilight Town.

"I believe so," Ventus corrected. "As long as you keep those memories, and the people you've met here in your hearts, you'll never be apart."

"Yeah, Ven's right. Maybe you guys are just thinkin' too much," Goofy suggested.

At that point, all seriousness was washed away from Ven's person, and he let out a brief chuckle before his next comment. "Never thought we'd be saying something like that about Sora."

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean," Sora demanded, earning several rounds of laughter from everyone again. Eventually, he could not keep up the indignant façade he was trying to hold, and joined in on the laughter as well, and that laughter did not stop until they had all reached the platform that would admit the six adventurers onto their waiting train.

There was not really too much time to gather any supplies that they may need when they reached their destination, and even if there was, the team of six all thought that it would be best to get on their way as quickly as possible. Part of it was due to the King's insistence that they board the train as soon as they could, but the other part was due to how Ventus made it seem like it was so important that they get moving just as quickly. It was not so much with words as it was with how he was trying to keep everyone's mind on how they needed to get working as soon as they could, and Sora could have sworn that he saw Ventus fidgeting a little every now and then, like he was itching to get something underway that could not wait any longer. Not that he could blame his master; after sleeping in that pod for a year, Sora was eager to get back out into the worlds so that he could pick up where he left off in his search for their friends.

Since everyone was in such a rush to get moving, it came as no surprise that they all started boarding the mysterious train the minute they had climbed up to the platform, with Donald and Goofy rushing aboard first, and Ventus soon after. When he saw his three apprentices taking a few extra minutes to talk with Hayner, Pence, and Olette, Ventus advised them to try and be as quick as possible before disappearing into the train, and with that, the six kids were left to talk amongst themselves. Of course, most of that was for Roxas and Xion's sake, but for some reason, Sora felt like he really needed to bid the three local kids farewell as well. They kept things as brief as possible though, with Xion giving Olette a quick hug, Sora high-fiving Pence, and Roxas exchanging a fist-bump with Hayner, each saying something that went along the lines of "see you again soon", or some similar goodbye.

Just before the three Keyblade wielders boarded the train, Hayner called out, "Hey, Roxas, Xion. You sure we haven't met before?"

As much as the two wanted to say yes, Roxas and Xion both knew that it was not a good idea to give that answer, or explain the reasons behind it. They just had to hope they were not giving anything away when they told Hayner their small lie. "Pretty sure we haven't," Roxas said. "But if we did…I get the feeling we had probably been great friends."

"Yeah, same here," Xion said with a smile that just could not hide any of her sadness. Still, she managed to divert any suspicion when she asked, "Why do you ask, anyway?"

Hayner seemed like he needed to think about that before he eventually just shrugged with a smile and said, "I dunno."

That seemed like the end of it, until Pence noticed something that left him concerned. "Hey, Sora. Are you okay? You're…"

When Pence pointed to Sora's face, the spiky haired boy immediately raised one hand up and felt a tear that was slowly sliding down his cheek, much to his surprise. "Weird," Sora muttered. "Don't know where that came from. Guess I've just…gotten a bit emotional when it comes to certain moments after all that I've been through."

"Come on. Pull it together," Hayner told him in amusement.

"Yeah. We can't have you getting all teary-eyed before we've even got that far into our journey, can we," Xion teased with a smile.

"Right," Sora smiled back with a nod. He then turned to the Twilight Town trio as he started to board the train, and waved as he said, "Well…we'll see ya."

Roxas and Xion both spared one last wave to the three friends before they boarded the train as well, and they all watched on opposite sides as the door slid closed. With a faint hiss of steam, the train slowly departed from the station, and then began racing off down the tracks, leaving the station behind, along with the three kids who appeared to be very sorry to see their new friends leave so soon. Meanwhile on board the train, Donald and Goofy were watching through the windows as the city passed by, with Ventus sitting across from them with his arms crossed and his eyes closed. To Sora, it looked like his master was either napping or meditating, but he could not really tell which one was more likely at the moment. Considering how tired he had seemed during the fight earlier, it really could have gone either way for Ven right now. Sora probably would have joined Ven in napping, assuming that he was doing so, but he just did not feel tired enough to go back to sleep right now. Not only that, but there was just something else bothering him, and looking to Roxas and Xion, he had a pretty good idea what it was.

"You guys okay," Sora finally asked after a few minutes of silence. Neither of the siblings had said anything, and were both watching the town pass by with an air of sadness to them that Sora could only most closely relate to how he had probably looked when he decided to not go back to his home on the islands before finding Riku a year ago.

Neither sibling replied right away, as they felt that they should try to cover up their sorrow before they did say something. Only Roxas managed to do so quickly, for the most part, and simply said, "Yeah…I guess we're just nervous about this whole thing."

"That and…well, this town reminds us of a place we called home for a while, so it feels like we're leaving behind everything we know and loved for the first time," Xion explained, feeling that was as close to the truth as they could give Sora right now.

Sora nodded in reply to that, as he said, "Yeah, I get it. I felt the same way when I decided to stick with Ven and the others a year ago instead of going home myself." He then paused for a moment, gazing out the window at Twilight Town for a minute before he admitted, "You know…I'm kinda sad to be leaving this place, too."

That got the other three's attention, and they all knew right away that they had to say something in order to cheer the three kids up. "We'll be back," Donald reassured them, taking the lead in said attempts.

"Yeah. We can visit Hayner and those guys again," Goofy added on.

"Like I said before, true friends are never apart for too long, so long as they remain in your heart," Ventus reminded them. He then stood up, pulled out the munny pouch he had received earlier, and retrieved something from within said pouch that he immediately passed to Roxas and Xion. "Until then though, how about you two take these as a little reminder of home."

The siblings looked to see what Ventus had just handed them, and gasped a little at the sight of their blue and silver crystals that they had gotten from the Five Crystal Trophy a few days ago. Tentatively, they picked up the crystals, and held them gently between their fingers before gazing through the small orbs like they had when they first received them. When the light of the sun shined through the crystals in a manner similar to when they held them up the first time, a small smile crossed over Roxas and Xion's faces, which they immediately shared with each other and Ventus to show their thanks to the blonde master.

Sora smiled at the sight of this, too, glad to see that his newest friends were feeling a little better, when a bright light suddenly began to shine through the windows of the train. Looking out the window again, they all gasped at the sight of a vast sky of stars behind polar lights, while the train itself seemed to have started running along a glowing, green track. He almost did not notice when the train's whistle blew, almost as if to reassure its passengers that everything was right on track, but when he did, he felt that he had to say something about what this could likely mean in his eyes. "I guess that our new adventure is really getting started now."

"So does that mean our training begins now," Roxas then asked Ventus, mainly indicating himself and Xion when he asked that question.

"No. Your training begins later," Ventus instantly replied, earning disappointed sighs from the siblings. All the same, they were still just as curious and mystified as the others were with the next thing that Ventus said. "There's still someone we have to talk to before we can really get started."

* * *

"Guess that's that," Axel commented as he looked on after something far off in the distance from Sunset Hill. He was relieved that he had managed to quickly substitute himself for a data-clone that Ventus and Naminé had helped him to create in the virtual Twilight Town in order to throw off both DiZ and the Organization, but he did still want to say goodbye to his friends in person. All the same, he meant what he said when he had spoken to the two through said data-clone. Now all that was left for him to do was carry out the new mission that Ventus had given him. He just had to hope that one of his two current companions would let him go through with it.

"Let's go," Ansem told both the redhead and the blonde girl that was sitting in front of him, with a sketchpad resting on her lap.

"Go where, exactly," Axel asked. "It's not like some of us have home to return to. Two of us don't exist, remember?"

"Yes, it's true. We may not have homes…but there IS someplace I want to go," Naminé admitted. She then blushed a little bit as she added, "And…someone I want to see."

"Same here, but probably not for the same reasons as you, Naminé," Axel teased, making Naminé blush a little more. "Of course, that means that I've got to make sure I keep you safe for both Ventus and Roxas, so do me a favor or try not to run off without me, okay Naminé?" He then turned to their hooded friend and said, "That is assuming that you plan to let us go. I know you tended to be more of DiZ's lapdog, and he wanted to get rid of us, but…"

Ansem was not surprised that Axel knew about that, but he was not expecting Naminé to be so calm about the fact that DiZ wanted to get rid of her. In fact, she just looked at him with a calm expression, without even the slightest hint of worry or fear in her eyes, and in that moment, he knew that somehow, Naminé had found about this at some point earlier. He had a good idea on who told her, and to be quite honest, he was glad for that. After all, he was not too supportive of DiZ's endgame plans for those three, so that was why he had no problem with telling them what he did. "Go, and do what you feel you should do."

"Normally I'd correct you on the fact that we don't have hearts for feeling, but honestly, I'm a little more concerned whether or not you're sure about that," Axel remarked in caution.

"I owe you both," Ansem admitted in return. "You both helped each of us quite a bit at Castle Oblivion."

That was good enough for Axel, so he immediately opened a Dark Corridor that he and Naminé could leave through. The blonde slowly stood up from the bench she had been sitting on, before nodding a quick thanks to Ansem, and then rushed into the shadowy portal as quickly as she could. Just when the redhead was about to depart, Ansem called out for him to wait a moment, catching Axel's attention. "What's up," the redhead asked.

"When you get a break from guarding Naminé, you should go to Destiny Islands," Ansem informed him. "It may be the best time to help another friend join those six on their journey."

"Oh? And why should I do that," Axel asked. "I mean, if you're talking about who think you are, then I'm basically going to have to seem like I'm the bad guy again, and I doubt that would go over too well for certain people."

"Maybe, but it would be worth the risk. After all…Sora and Kairi have been apart from one another for too long as it is. They're definitely stronger when they are together," Ansem explained. "Besides, there may be someone there who will want to meet up with their group as well, and that reunion is even more overdue than Sora and Kairi's."

Axel was not really sure what to think about that, but he did not see any reason to doubt Ansem, especially since the guy was letting him and Naminé get away without any hassle, so he just accepted the job and headed out, grumbling under his breath about how he was constantly being given so many jobs by various different people lately as the corridor disappeared. Now that he was alone, Ansem allowed himself a small smile, before muttering, "Well, it may not be the way you would like for it to happen, but I do hope that you'll enjoy your reunions with Sora and Ventus. I just hope that the Organization doesn't try to get in your way, Kairi and Master Aqua."

* * *

 **Ventus's Journal Entry 2:**

 **It's been a few weeks now since Naminé started on getting Sora's memories fixed, or whatever the technical term for the process is, and it seems like the process is slow going. Then again, considering some of that time was spent with her and DiZ moving Sora and the others to this old mansion on a world called Twilight Town, I guess I should've have expected a sudden drop in the process's speed. During that time, I could not help but notice how often members of Organization XIII seemed to come into Twilight Town. It's almost like they use the place as a training ground or something. Or maybe they come here because it's the closest world to wherever their stronghold is. Whatever the case may be, they definitely come here a lot, and that's got me a little worried. Why would DiZ decide to come to this world if he knows that the Organization is coming here so much? Does he think that they are hiding in plain sight by bringing Sora here or something? Either way, I can't help but feel it's a little risky, but then again, DiZ is something of an expert on these beings that he calls Nobodies. Doesn't mean I'm okay with how he constantly goes on about how they don't have the right to so much as exist.**

 **Honestly, what really came as a surprise to me was the identities of two of the Organization's members that are normally coming into the town. Sure, I may have seen them once when I had traveled to the future almost ten years ago with Aqua and Terra (or alternate future. I'm not really sure how time travel stuff works), but it was still surprising to see them. A Nobody that was clearly Sora's, and yet looks so much like me when I was younger. That could only have been Roxas, and even though she's kept her hood up until now, there's no way that the girl who's with him could be anyone other than Xion. From the look of things, they've only recently discovered that they can both use the Keyblade, and they're becoming quite good friends. I'm not a big fan of that group having Keyblade wielders under their thumbs like this, but for the moment, it does not look like I can really do too much to get them away. At least not without a good reason, but I get the feeling that such a reason will come along in time.**

 **Either way, I'm going to be keeping an eye on those two. There's something about them that seems rather promising in regards to their abilities with the Keyblade, and I'm not just saying that because of who they're connected to, or who they look like.**

* * *

 ** _AN: And that's a wrap. I know a lot of you were expecting Sora to be more upset about Ven getting two new apprentices, but be honest, could really see Sora acting that way? It just seems a little too out of character for him. Besides, Roxas and Xion were already really nervous about meeting Sora at last, so why would I do that to them? It would be just cruel and mean._**

 ** _Rolling right along...well, actually, I don't think I can really say to much in regards to deeper explanations this time. I will admit that I was going to have Sora's awakening and first meeting with Roxas and Xion happen in the last chapter, but that ended up being too long, and it just worked out better to have that happen here in the chapter where the group's leaving Twilight Town._**

 ** _Speaking of which, I'm sure you all noticed how the Twilight Town gang mainly addressed Roxas and Xion, and why wouldn't they? After all, in canon, the main reason that they were directing their questions and such to Sora was because of the ties that they...somewhat shared with Roxas. I'm not entirely sure if it actually counts or not, since Roxas was only really friends with them in the virtual Twilight Town, and only knew them in passing during 358/2 Days._**

 ** _Roxas: Hey, what about that scene at the end? With_** ** _Naminé_ ****_and the others?_**

 ** _AN: Oh that. Well, that's mainly to show what other mission Ventus had lined up for Axel, and to give everyone an idea on why Axel would be taking certain actions later on. I know, total spoiler if you can decipher the clues, but I just had to include that in there._**

 _ **And with the latest entry from Ven's journal...yeah, that's pretty self-explanatory, but it's the moment when Ven, DiZ, and**_ ** _Naminé_ _first arrived in Twilight Town, and when Ven first spotted Roxas and Xion, along with him just noting a few other things. Not much else to really say there._**

 ** _Sora: I just have to ask. Did you really need to have Ven hit me, Donald, and Goofy upside the head like that?_**

 ** _AN: Honestly? Yes. He had good reason to do so, and let's be quite honest, you guys did kind of deserve it for just jumping into that trap without even really thinking about it too much. But look on the bright side, at least you're not completely clueless as to how you ended up there like you had in canon, so there's always that._**

 ** _Sora: Yeah I guess._**

 ** _AN: Sheesh, don't look so down. At least I'm not telling you to get back in the pod anymore. Besides, we've got another chapter's events to tease for everyone before the day's done. Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _The mystery train's destination soon leads the adventurers to find out that the Nobodies are not the only enemies that they will have to worry about, because it soon becomes clear that the Heartless are still quite a bit of a problem for the worlds. More than that, Donald, Goofy, and Ventus all find themselves coming face-to-face with an old enemy that they had thought they would not be seeing again anytime soon, but that does little to quell the excitement that comes from the reunions that they are also find. A quick briefing on what they will face reveals a few truths, before leading some of them to get some new gear, and even a brand new look in at least one case. Just what will the team discover? What kind of magical powers will come with the new attire that some of them will acquire? And just how will they be able to really adventure out across the worlds without their faithful ship to transport them? Well, those answers will be easily given, next time._**

 ** _Pretty obvious as to what's coming next, huh? And I guess it looks like the next chapter could be pretty short too, now that I think about it. Ah well. They can't all be very extensive. Anyways..._**

 ** _Please read and review, and see ya real soon!_**


	8. Geared Up and Ready to Go

_**AN: Well, this took a little longer to get out that I'd originally thought, but, good news is that at long last, the next chapter in the journey of the Keyblade Legion is finally out now!**_

 _ **[audience applause]**_

 ** _Roxas: Took you long enough. I get that you would want to update a Marvel story or two as a way of honoring Stan Lee, [pauses for a moment of silent respect along with everyone else], but couldn't you have worked a little faster to get this new chapter out?_**

 ** _AN: Hey, I did the best I could, but the holidays are a busy time. Gotta juggle a lot more than usual along with this. Moving along, let's answer some reviews that we received since last chapter._**

 ** _Xion: How about starting with "rmarcano321"'s question about who your favorite KH character is?_**

 ** _AN: Yeah...let's not go into playing favorites, especially since I know some of you will likely try and beat me up if I don't say your name, regardless of whatever consequences may unfold for you in the main story._**

 ** _Sora: Aww, come on!_**

 ** _AN: Well, if I'd had to pick, I'd say anyone who was not a bad guy. So basically, Sora, Kairi, Roxas, Xion, Ven, Aqua, etc. You get the idea._**

 ** _Riku: Uh, do I count on the list of bad guys? Considering I was an antagonist in KH1._**

 ** _AN: Yeah, you don't count as a bad guy. Riku Replica on the other hand..._**

 ** _Anyways, let's get to "Anonymaton"'s questions and comments. To explain how Ven didn't notice his beard itching up a storm, the simple answer is...magic armor. It does wonders._**

 ** _Ventus: I feel like that's a bit of a cop out._**

 ** _AN: Too bad. That's all we're really going with for now, and all we really can go with. Anyways, like the idea for a gag, so I'm gonna have to remember that for later. Also, about your next Master Chair, go with the really nice leather recliner. I tried the gold plated throne once, and yikes! The pains I had all over after sitting in it for for like ten to fifteen minutes, even with excess cushioning...So not worth it._**

 ** _Next up is our old pal "Monkey D. Conan", I hadn't actually considered either of those ideas you mentioned regarding Roxas, but I do like the idea you offered up about Sora owning someone in a verbal match. I'll definitely have to either work your suggestion or something similar in at some point later on. As for Xion play flirting with Sora after his wardrobe change...yeah, that's not gonna happen here. Plus, even before Sora learns the truth, Xion's most likely going to think of Sora as more like a brother or something in this continuity, so she'd probably feel a little strange flirting with him, even playfully. But I do admit, I kinda like the suggestion you made about her and Kairi tag-teaming in a little moment of messing with him._**

 ** _Sora: I don't! It's not that funny!_**

 ** _Xion: Neither was something that was suggested in the main story, but you don't hear me complaining. Honestly, I wouldn't have minded playfully flirting with Sora after the wardrobe change if you hadn't included that particular part._**

 ** _AN: Hey, the idea came to me after reading a couple of reviews that I felt brought up a good point, so I just had to include that in here._**

 ** _Kairi: Wait, what are you guys talking about?_**

 ** _AN: You and the readers will see later. Rolling on over to "Dragon Rider 66", let's discuss the topic of the fractured heart from Past-Ven. Technically speaking, the heart still remained with Sora, even after he turned into a Heartless, but it did provide the blueprints for Roxas's appearance, so that's why Sora's Nobody looks like Ven instead of Sora. That makes sense to everybody, right?_**

 ** _Riku: I think so._**

 ** _AN: Well, I'll just have to hope so. Anyways, at the moment, Ven's theory on why Roxas has two Keyblades is really the only thing that is going to hold true for now, but it may change later on down the line. That, and I just think that Roxas is meant to dual wield Keyblades. It's just his thing since as far as most people are concerned, he did it first._**

 ** _Roxas: Damn right I did!_**

 ** _AN: [eye roll] Also, Ven doesn't really see Pete as that much of an enemy-enemy, but he does know that Pete's a huge bully from his experiences in Disney Town during BBS, so that's enough for him, and of course he'd learn about what Pete did later on that got him imprisoned after he went to study under Mickey. And yeah, people having a comment or two, or just some variety of reaction to Ven's beard is going to be a thing. Even after he may or may not trim it down and give it a little grooming that'll be a thing._**

 ** _By the way, your question about the team visiting a Power Ranger world, or having a summon charm for one of said characters...the latter of those two ideas has a stronger likelihood than the former in this story. While the Power Rangers were a Disney property at one point, they aren't any longer, and they weren't really that obviously one, like how Marvel and Star Wars has been over the last few years or so, but don't worry, we will likely see those teenagers with attitude in a future story of this series._**

 ** _Rolling it on the guest reviewer "Guest" from 11/2/2018, who commented on Ven and Aqua adopting their apprentices and such. First off, what do they look like, Kanan and Hera from Star Wars Rebels? Cause you know those two practically did that with Ezra and Sabine, although, now that I think about it, I can definitely see plenty of parallels, and why you would say that, so I guess I've almost unintentionally created a kind of Keyblade family in this series, huh?_**

 ** _Ventus: Well, that name's probably gonna stick with us for a while now._**

 ** _AN: Ah don't tell me you don't love the idea of having a family with Aqua. [smirks wider when both Ven and Aqua blush up a storm] Thought so. Beyond that though, what are yours and Aqua's thoughts on that?_**

 ** _Aqua: Well if you asked me, I'd say that if this were a different kind of AU, I can see me and Ven doing just that with these kids, and I can't help but feel like Ven would likely spoil them rotten._**

 ** _Ventus: Oh like you're one to talk. You'd probably dote on them nonstop._**

 ** _Sora: You do remember that all of us are teenagers, right?_**

 ** _Aqua: Well, I did say if this were a different kind of AU. You know, like a real-world-based AU, or even a High-School one._**

 ** _AN: Okay, let's move on before this gets out of hand and I start getting more new ideas. To the guest reviewer "Guest" from 11/2/2018. Yeah, Xion's gonna be teasing the hell out of Roxas and Sora in regards to their respective girlfriends, and the girls in question for a long time to come, and if_** _ **Naminé did have any dreams like that, Xion definitely would be making fun of her for a long time to come the minute she found out.**_

 _ **Naminé: [blushing bright red] Please change the subject and move to a different review please!**_

 _ **AN: Sure thing,**_ _ **Naminé. If you really want us to. [smirks knowingly along with everyone else, other than Roxas] To "Mr. Nobody or YARN", Xion having Ven's fractured heart in her will have a lingering effect or two, but nothing to the point where she's able to use Ven's Command Styles. You'll find out in a couple chapters or so, don't worry. And yeah, Sora's still going to have Drive Forms. I realize that everyone has often said that Sora's Drive Forms give him the ability to use two Keyblades because of how he has Ven's heart inside of him, but you have to keep in mind...this is an AU story. Obviously some things are going to be different from canon, as if that isn't already obvious. So, I wouldn't worry too much about how the Drive Forms will be effected in this series. Why would I change up something so awesome, anyways? I'm creative, but I don't think I'm that creative.**_

 _ **Roxas: Sure you're not. [please note the tone of disbelief]**_

 _ **AN: Hey! Betrayed by my own action notes?! The indignity and embarrassment. Oh well, let's wrap up the more long-winded review answer by addressing the comments/questions of "Fantasysword92375". You don't have to worry about how those two treat Luxord, because out of all the Organization members, aside from Dusks, Roxas and Xion are only really going to have their sights set on one above all the others, besides Xemnas I mean. Plus, you have to remember that they're still steadily getting memories back, so you'll have to forgive them if they don't remember everything about their old business associates right away. Oh, and as for your questions on the Keyblades they had in 358/2, yeah, I'm going to do my best to include those in this story, as you'll soon see later on in this chapter.**_

 _ **Xion: Ooh, ooh! I want to answer his last question!**_

 _ **AN: Well, it is addressed to you, so...**_

 _ **Xion: Yay! Ahem, to be quite honest, I'm not really sure which version of Ducktales I prefer. I mean, in this story, the series is more like a fusion of the two series, only in a documentary kind of form, but if I did have to choose one or the other...yeah, it's honestly a tie. Both series are great! You can't hate a classic, and the new is a really awesome new take on the Ducktales adventures.**_

 _ **AN: I hear ya on that, sister. And to round things out, thank you to everyone else who favorited, followed, and left reviews of both praise and constructive criticism. Glad to see so many of you are enjoying the story so far, and here's hoping you'll continue to find it great. Now let's get on with the show, and let the adventure begin!...**_

 ** _I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story._**

* * *

 **Chapter VIII**

The train ride had fallen into deep silence after the scenery change and Ventus's last statement. While some of them were just taking the time to relax and finish regaining their bearings after so long, Roxas and Xion could not help but gaze at their new friends in nervous contemplation. Sure, they were already accepted into the group after that first meeting, but they could not help but be concerned about how they would react if and when they found out that the twins used to work with the bad guys. They knew Sora had an incredible forgiving nature, but was it really to that much of an extent? Not that he really knew too much about the Organization, aside from the Dusks that had just attacked them at the station, but it was still a concern all the same. And speaking of Sora, they also had to wonder how he would react when he learned the truth about the two of them, and their connection to him. Just how would Sora take it when he found out that the twins were practically his siblings, if not his clones, for lack of a better word?

On a similar subject, they also had to wonder if they really should consider themselves as twin siblings now. After learning the truth about their natures, Roxas and Xion had not really stopped to think about how they were not brother and sister in blood, but merely in sentiment. Maybe it was partly because of the shock that came with their new knowledge, or maybe it had something to do with how they just wanted to get out of that old mansion as quickly as possible, but now that they had finally caught a break, they were not able to avoid thinking it over. Despite that though, part of them could not help but wonder if they really needed to think about it that much. The mere idea that they were not actually siblings by blood, at least in the typical sense, had not been too great of a shock to them when they first found out, so did they really need to worry about it now? Then again, what if it was something they should be concerned about? There were already a massive number of questions plaguing their minds about their pasts in the Organization, even if they did remember the more important details regarding their history with the group, so they were not sure if they could really afford to be worrying about anything that would seem really small in comparison at the moment. Or at least, what they could only assume was a small matter, but if you take into account that they did not even remember the full details of what they did while they were working with the Organization, it probably was.

The two were so engrossed in their thoughts that they had not even noticed that Sora was talking to them until he finally asked them a question that caught them by surprise. "So how'd you guys meet, anyway," the Kingdom Key wielder asked.

"Huh? What," Roxas stuttered while Xion just jumped out of surprise in suddenly being addressed directly.

Sora could not help it. He just had to give the two a look for apparently not listening to him, but he still elaborated on his question all the same. "I was asking how you guys met Ven. I mean, I doubt he just showed up on your doorstep at random one day or something…Did he?"

"Oh…Well," Roxas stuttered, and a side-glance to Xion told him that she was not sure what to say either. Ventus had already warned them against telling Sora the truth about them right away, but they did not want to lie to Sora about something this important. One look to Xion told Roxas that she was likely about to say something no matter what, and he was about to stop her when he noticed that Ventus was nodding to them, silently saying they could tell him a few things, so long as they did not go too far into details just yet.

"The thing is…we don't really remember how or when exactly when met Ven," Xion admitted. "Or really…anything from the past year."

"Really? How come," Sora cautiously asked. He was curious about the matter, but he did not want to be too insensitive to his two new friends.

"It's…complicated," Roxas finally said. "You see…we used to be part of a really bad group, and when we found out the truth about why we had been recruited, we ran away. They didn't take it too well, and they proved that they were going to keep coming after us no matter what. So, after meeting up with her and Ven, we asked Naminé to alter our memories so that we wouldn't remember the time when we were in the group, allowing us to completely fool everyone into thinking we were someone different, including ourselves."

"Wow…" Sora gasped in awe. Not that he could really think of that much else to say, but he did eventually have a big question that he had to ask. "Do you think that you'll get your old memories back?"

"Maybe," Xion nodded. "We've already started to remember a few things, like how we used to interact with each other, and about one of the few, real friends we had in that group, but nothing in the way of extensive details. Just enough to know that we did leave for a reason, and that it was our choice to leave."

"But why did you guys leave, and why would you go so far as to change your memories to keep them from finding you," Sora asked, finally getting to the big question that the two were hoping he would not pose to them.

Roxas and Xion exchanged a small, hesitant look between themselves and Ventus, before Roxas finally decided to swallow the bitter pill and reveal as much of the truth as he could. "Because of you, Sora. You were the reason we left. We wanted to do what we could to help you recover from what had happened to you, and the only reason we could do that was by leaving."

"What," Sora gasped, hardly believing his ears. Clearly he felt really upset that he had caused so much trouble for the two siblings, and turned their lives completely upside down as a result. It showed in every single inch of his face and body language, and neither sibling was about to let Sora apologize to them for something that was not really his fault.

"It's not like you meant for any of it to happen," Xion reassured him. "Besides, like Roxas said, it was our choice to do it, and we would do it again in heartbeat if we had to."

Sora could nothing more than nod in response to the girl's words, but he did eventually smile to show that he appreciated the sentiment. Still something about the whole thing did bug him a little bit, and he had to point it out. "How exactly were you guys supposed to help me wake up and recover from what had happened to me," Sora asked. "I mean, all that happened was that Naminé had tampered with my memories, so was there really that much you could've done to help fix that?"

Roxas and Xion were definitely stuck now, and from the look of things, Ventus did not really know of any way for them to answer that question without revealing the truth about the twins' nature in relation to Sora. At that point, the only thing they could save them from that problem would be if something else a little more important came up, and it was not like that sort of thing just happened at a convenient moment whenever you wished for it to, right? Well, this time, such a thing did happen, as they all suddenly felt the train slowing to a stop, while the breaks squealed against the wheels and the engine let off steam. Ventus quickly hurried out of his seat to look outside, and the minute that he saw what was waiting for them outside the train, the bearded blonde grinned to his friends and students in excitement, telling all of them the very thing that they suspected before Ventus had even said the words.

"We're here," Ventus revealed, and seconds later, the door opened to allow the train's passengers to disembark. "Come on, everyone. That person I mentioned to you all before may be a very patient man, but we should still hurry and see him as soon as possible."

Donald and Goofy both nodded and rushed out the door in response, with Ventus just behind them at a slightly slower pace, but the last three took their time stepping off and taking in the view of where they had just stopped. Not that you could blame them, because it was certainly a sight to behold like nothing that any of them had ever seen before. Just from looking around, they could tell that they were standing on what could only be called a small island that floated in the middle of a vast void of colorful mists, and while that alone was eye-catching, what was more incredible was the lone tower that sat on the island, the only structure it possessed. The tower seemed to twist and turn in various directions as it reached towards the sky, and at some points, the three could see that like the train, it was decorated with stars and moons. Needless to say, the three were unable to really keep their feelings of awe at bay. Even Sora was left staring up at the tower in silence while taking in the amazing sight, and he had seen quite a few spectacular, out-of-this-world things on his last journey.

"Whoa," Roxas finally whispered, breaking the silence between them. "So is this…really another world?"

"It sure looks like it," Sora nodded, though he still crossed his arms in thought for a minute. "But, last I checked, one of the only ways to reach another world was with a gummi ship, a Keyblade, or really powerful magic. I mean, the train was definitely magic from what I could tell, but what if this is actually just another part of Twilight Town that few people know about?"

Xion seemed to think it over for a minute, before she reasoned, "I guess that could make sense. I mean, most people think that the train we came in on was just something of legend, so maybe…Uh, guys…"

"What," Roxas asked as he and Sora turned around to see what had caused Xion to suddenly change her tone to something a little more nervous. A minute later, both boys' eyes had widened along with Xion's, as the train glowed a little bit before vanishing completely, leaving only the strange energy tracks that it had been traveling along in its wake, and three very startled and nervous Keybearers.

"Eh-hehehe…There goes our ride," Sora nervously chuckled in an attempt to relieve the tension that the three were now all likely feeling. He did not quite succeed.

"That's not helping, Sora," Roxas had instantly revealed, his face more than a little pale as he stared at where the train had just been, his mind having already gone back to how the locomotive was called the ghost train.

"Let's just…Let's just go and meet this person that Ventus was telling us about," Xion decided, and neither of the boys argued with her as they both turned around and followed after the other three just as quickly as she had.

It was not long before the last three caught up with the others, and it took even less time for them to take notice of a rather large figure standing at the door to the odd tower. Seeing someone standing at the door, Sora quickly came to the first conclusion that popped into his mind, and asked, "Is that the guy we're here to see?"

"No…But he does look familiar," Ventus admitted, his eyes narrowing on the figure standing at the door. "Be on your guard, everyone. Something tells me he's not supposed to be here, be it right now or in general."

Everyone nodded in response to the Keyblade master, and they all slowed their approach to a more cautious pace as they reached the front door of the tower. Even before they had gotten close they could tell that the person at the door was big, but once they were standing at the foot of the stairs, just a few feet away from him, they realized that "big" was probably too easy a word to describe him. The man, who wore a red shirt with blue and purple armor, fingerless gauntlets, a navy blue pauldron on each shoulder, and navy blue pants that had large, pouches on either side. They could not really see just who this person is, since his back was turned to them while he tried to peek in through the door, but regardless of that, Ventus, Donald, and Goofy all narrowed their eyes suspiciously, feeling that there was something very familiar about this large man that was obviously sneaking around in a place that he was not supposed to be.

After a few moments of silence, Xion finally could not take the suspense anymore and walked a little closer to the large man. "Excuse me," she called out. "What're you doing?"

The large man chuckled deeply in response, making Ven, Donald, and Goofy's suspicious gazes narrow a little more at the familiarity of that laugh, and that same suspicion only grew more when he spoke up in reply. "I sent some of my lackeys inside to see if the master of this here tower's as big and tough as they say. Word is, he's a real powerful sorcerer, which would make him the perfect bodyguard for me. See, it don't matter how tough he is. Once he's a Heartless, he'll do as I say."

"A Heartless," Roxas exclaimed in shock, while Sora and the others all jumped back a bit and adopted looks of slight panic.

"That's right," the big man nodded, still not turning to face the group. "They're those things that come outta the darkness in folks' hearts. Why, with all those Heartless at her side, my dear friend Maleficent is gonna conquer everything! And since I got me a debt to pay, I'm goin' 'round to a bunch of different worlds and buidlin' an army of Heartless, special for her." That got the team's worried looks washed away in favor of various confused ones. Clearly this guy had not heard that Maleficent had been defeated a year ago by Sora, Ven, Donald, and Goofy, but that did not quite explain how this guy was able to still build an army of Heartless, let alone command them, assuming they really were still around. At that point, the big man suddenly seemed to realize that he should not be talking to random folks about his plans, because the next thing he said was, "Why am I talkin' to you pip-squeaks anyway? Go on, scram! I'm behind schedule as it is."

Roxas got a little annoyed with the big guy when he heard that, and was likely about to give a rude retort in reply, when Sora stepped up and said, "Maybe you should consider finding something nicer to do. Working with bad guys like the Heartless never ends well, after all."

"Says who," the big man drily scoffed as he finally turned around to face the group, allowing them to finally see his full, cat-like features, and for three members in particular to finally recognize him in full. Those three were not the only ones though, as the big man gasped in shock before growling in anger, "Wha….AAAH! It's you!"

"Pete," Donald, Goofy, and Ventus all exclaimed in surprise, earning confused looks from the three Keyblade apprentices.

"What are you two nimrods and that overgrown twerp doin' here," Pete groaned angrily.

"What are YOU doing here," Donald snapped back.

"Um, I'm pretty sure he just told us that," Roxas pointed out.

"We know, but that's not what Donald meant," Ventus explained. He then glared at Pete and asked, "And who're you calling an overgrown twerp, you overweight pretender?"

"Wait, you guys all know him," Sora asked, looking to his three friends, with Xion and Roxas both silently asking the same question.

"We sure do," Goofy nodded with a glare of his own being directed at Pete. This came as a surprise for Sora, as he had never seen Goofy glare at someone like that before, without them being an obvious bad guy, until the knight explained the reasoning behind his look. "Pete's been causin' trouble for ages! King Mickey and Queen Minnie banished him to another dimension a long time ago."

"So that's what happened to him after his little stunt at the Million Dreams Festival, huh," Ventus muttered, before going into an explanation on how he knew the guy. "I met Pete on my first trip to Disney Town, and at the time, he was dressing up and trying to play hero in an attempt to get people to vote for him to win the Million Dreams award. From what I heard, he had two different disguises, but I only knew about one. When he found out that me, Aqua, and Terra were voted the winners, he threw up a huge fuss, to put it mildly, and got arrested. At least, that's what Aqua told me when I asked her about it later on." The blonde then leveled a glare at Pete, and demanded, "How'd you get out Pete?"

Pete immediately bellowed out a loud laugh before replying, "You wanna know how, eh? Well, Maleficent busted me out, that's how!"

"Of course," Ventus muttered under his breath, clearly annoyed.

"And now your world—no, no, no, all the worlds are gonna belong to yours truly," Pete declared with pride. He turned a little more sheepish seconds later when he added, "Cause Maleficent's gonna help me conquer 'em."

"Maleficent…huh," Sora said with an amused tone, before he let out a few snickers along with the others. Even Roxas and Xion had to laugh a bit at that idea, but only because they knew what was so funny, unlike Pete, who was quickly getting mad.

"What are you laughing at," Pete growled. "Why, Maleficent's power is so great that…"

"She's toast," Sora finally revealed, startling Pete quite a bit when he did.

"Sorry, but Maleficent can't help ya now," Goofy added on.

"Whaddaya mean," Pete asked before it finally clicked for him. "You! So you're the ones that did it!"

"Well…we mighta had something to do with it," Sora shrugged in false modesty while placing both hands behind his head.

"Or everything, but who really wants to stress out on all the details," Ventus piped in with a similar tone as he took on his version of Sora's relaxed pose, grinning as much as the Keyblade warrior the whole time.

Pete growled angrily at that, and looked like he was about to do something, when his gaze locked onto the last two members of the group, and he let out a startled gasp. "You two again?!"

"Us," Xion asked, completely confused.

"Yes, you! Don't think I've forgotten what you two did," Pete stated.

"Right…Of course you wouldn't forget about…that," Roxas nodded along, just as confused as Xion. That did not keep his curiosity at bay though. "Uh, what did we do?"

"Don't play stupid! That won't work on me. You two mucked up my plans in Agrabah and Neverland," Pete snapped.

"We did," Xion questioned with a look to Roxas. Her brother could only shrug in return, not having much more of a clue as to what Pete was talking about either, and that just got Pete even more riled up.

"I told ya playin' stupid ain't gonna work on me," Pete snapped. "Don't think for a minute that I don't recognize you just because you're not wearin' them snazzy little black coats now. Anyone who crosses me always pays the price eventually."

"Keep telling yourself that," Ventus scoffed in return, while Roxas and Xion finally figured out what Pete was referring to the minute that he had mentioned a time when they were wearing black coats.

Sora on the other hand, did not really know about that, and instead just said, "So you guys were saving worlds even before we met? Guess you have a bit more experience with the Keyblade than you thought, huh?"

"Maybe," Roxas shrugged, not knowing what else he could say right then, and Xion was not much better off given the look on her face.

That made Pete finally snap, as he immediately waved his arms out and shouted, "Heartless Squad! Round up!"

To be quite honest, Donald and Goofy were actually a little surprised to see some Heartless materialize around them when Pete called for them. Sure, Pete had never really been too much of a good guy, as far as they could remember, but he was never really a full-blown villain, or at least not one that would be on Maleficent's level. Of course, the big bully did admit that he had become one of Maleficent's thugs in exchange for help in getting out of his punishment, so anything was possible in that regard. The only thing that they found more shocking was that there were still Heartless lurking around, even after all that their team had been through last year, but that was a problem that they could easily deal with. The two warriors of Disney Town were now well-rested and more than ready for a fight this time, but Ventus had other ideas.

"Really? Is that the best you can do, Pete," Ventus questioned, his tone an obvious display of how unimpressed he was. "I mean, I was expecting you to at least be able to bring out a few Soldiers, or even some of the more powerful pureblood Heartless, but just a bunch of little Shadows? Guess Maleficent didn't think you could handle something a little further up the ladder to the big leagues."

"Oh yeah? Well if they're so easy to beat, how about you prove it," Pete dared.

"With pleasure," Ventus accepted before waving for Donald and Goofy to step back. Everyone thought that meant the blonde master was going to battle all these Heartless by himself, and they were all more than eager to see Ven showcase his skills like this. Sadly, they were not going to get that show, as Ventus also stepped back a little, looked to his three apprentices, and said, "Sora, Roxas, Xion, how about you guys handle this one yourselves?"

"HUH?!" Was everyone's immediate response, including Pete. None of them had thought for even a second that Ven was going to throw his apprentices to the wolves like that, but then again, he did seem pretty confident that they could handle it, so maybe there was not any reason to worry.

Still, that did not keep any of the three kids from asking the obvious question. "Are you sure about that, Ven," Roxas asked. "I mean, me and Xion haven't really fought all that many Heartless before, or at least, we don't remember fighting that many Heartless, and while Sora's got the most experience, he's probably still getting his bearings back after waking up from his year-long nap."

"He has a point," Sora admitted. "Plus, we haven't really had much time to work together as a team up until now."

"All the more reason why I'm saying you three should handle it," Ventus insisted. "Think of this as an impromptu training session to help get you all back into the groove of things, and to help get a fix on how good or bad your teamwork is at the moment. Plus, this will also help me start to get an idea on where you all currently stand in regards to your Keyblade wielder abilities, and that will help me figure out how to organize training for each of you."

None of the kids were really able to think of an argument for that, but Pete did have something to say against this. "Oh, so you're runnin' away and throwin' out the kids as shields, huh," Pete mocked. "All that tough talk and you can't even back it up."

"I don't need to," Ventus replied simply, and with a somewhat smug smile at that. "Or rather, if I did fight them, this fight would be over way too quickly, and we'd have to listen to you whine and groan before summoning out another few waves in a vain attempt to beat me, all of which will end in failure, until you finally just collapse in exhaustion. I know that doesn't sound like something that would take long, but honestly, it would take far too long for my liking, and we're on a bit of schedule. Besides, a mere rookie fighter could beat you and these Heartless, Pete, so this will be just as much of a walk in the park for my apprentices as it would be for me."

Hearing how much confidence Ventus had in them definitely alleviated any doubts that the three young wielders had, and an instant later, Sora had summoned out Kingdom Key to his hand, with Roxas and Xion calling forth their Keyblades seconds later. "Don't worry. We'll try to make this as quick and painless as possible for ya," Sora teased Pete as he dropped into his battle stance. His teasing then turned to his sibling apprentices as he said, "That is assuming you guys can keep up with me."

"Hah! Get real," Roxas laughed as he readied Oathkeeper and Oblivion. "If anything, you're the one who's going to have a tough time keeping up with just one of us."

"Yeah. Me and Roxas are one of the best tag-teams that you'll ever meet, and we're just as good when we have to fight on our own, too. We can handle this no problem," Xion added in full confidence.

Sora smirked back at the duo's replies, and then set his sights on the Shadows slowly crawling towards them as he said, "Then let's show 'em how it's done!"

Nothing else needed to be said at that point, as the three quickly set to work, and after the first five or six Heartless were slain with ease, Donald and Goofy both found themselves just sitting back and watching the show along with Ventus. Of course, the blonde was making quite a few observations of the three and their fighting styles as he watched, but he did have to admit, this was actually pretty entertaining, given how frustrated Pete was getting over how easily the kids were beating the Shadows. Still, he had a job to do as the three's master, so Ventus did his best to keep his focus on studying the three and how well they fought, both individually and together. For starters, he made it a point to take careful notes on how well Roxas was doing, mainly because of his natural ability to dual wield Keyblades. That alone was going to make training Roxas a little challenging for anyone, but Ven was going to have to face that challenge as best as he could. That said, from what he could see, Roxas definitely went for fast, powerful strikes, and he could already tell that his younger doppelganger was going to be more of a close-combat type, mainly because of his natural ability. Even when Roxas was in the virtual Twilight Town, and from what he could tell from his observations of the boy during his time in the Organization, Ventus could tell that Roxas did not go for using magic all that often, aside from the occasional healing spell and one or two other attack spells, and it looked like that tendency carried over to now, but Ven was not going to know anything for sure about that until after Roxas actually did learn some magic.

Speaking of magic ability, Ventus could not help but note that Xion was much more open to using such abilities than her brother. The girl did not have any problem throwing out blasts of Blizzard whenever she saw a chance to, but she did not spam the attack like there was no tomorrow. If anything, she waited for the most opportune moment to fire out the blast of icy magic, and spent most of her time dancing around opponents while taking them down with Two Become One. One would think that this was a typical fighting style of a gifted mage, but Ventus had to disagree. He knew from his time giving Kairi a crash course on the basics of Keyblade wielding during the team's last journey, that most folks who wanted to put a lot of focus into magic would either use spells they knew so much that they would exhaust themselves very quickly, or just ended up trying to avoid getting close as much as possible. Xion was not doing either of those things, as she showed little to no hesitance in getting in close and attacking with her Keyblade, as she quickly proved when she vanquished three more Shadows with a single swing of Two Become One, and that alone proved to him that she was likely to end up as a much more balanced type of fighter. To be more accurate, Xion was looking like she would be the type to mix her magic in with her regular attacks while putting a good deal of focus on her speed if nothing else. It was actually something Ven was hoping would be true, given that he was a speed-fighter himself, but he could not help but notice that she seemed a little awkward at some points during the fight.

Right from the start of the battle, Ventus had noticed that Xion was making an effort to use her own battle stance and the style that went with it, so as not to seem like she was copying either Sora or Roxas too much, so naturally, Ven saw that she was stumbling now and again to keep herself from going back to what had been her default for so long, as far as she could remember. There was something else here though regarding her awkwardness during the fight, but Ven could not quite put his finger on what it could be. It almost seemed like she was struggling a bit to keep herself from tripping up due to a drastic change in her regular mannerisms or something along those lines. Thankfully, it was not so bad that it left her open to attack, but Ven did still make a note to look into this a little more when they got the chance later on. After watching and studying Xion's fighting style and ability for a few more minutes, Ventus finally turned his attention to his first apprentice, and prepared to see just how much of a refresher Sora would require.

After the little fight in the station plaza, Ventus already knew that Sora could still use his Shotlocks without too much trouble, and now that Sora was well-rested, the Kingdom Key wielder was proving that in full, as he unloaded Typhoon Barrage and Radiant Blade on several Shadows at once, vanquishing most of them before either ability had even gotten halfway to their finishing strikes. This is not something that worried Ventus too much, since Shotlocks required more focus than they did magic energy, but when it came to Sora's skills with magic and Command Styles, Ventus definitely had more than a few concerns. He did not want to find out that Sora would be back at square one when it came to his Command Styles, especially after how long it took for Sora to master them in their last journey, and then discover his Unique Tier One Style, but more than that, he also hoped that the kid was not going to be unable to use any magic at all. That would have been far worse, since magic spells and abilities were a key part to activating most Command Styles, be it the common ones or the unique variety, and Sora suddenly being unable to use magic would have been a huge blow that anyone could quickly take advantage of. As a result of knowing all this, Ventus could not help but breathe a small sigh of relief when Sora finally did make an attempt to use magic, but while the results were not as bad as he had thought they would be, they were still a matter of concern.

When Sora saw some Shadows leap at him, he quickly spun out of the way, aimed his Keyblade at them, and called upon his magic energy while shouting out, "Firaga!" While a fireball did rocket out from the tip of Kingdom Key, it was not the massive one that he normally associated with the level three fire spell, but instead, the smaller one that was typical of the starting level fire spell. Sure, it still destroyed one of the Shadows that had attacked him, but Sora was still a little confused as to why he got the wrong spell. He quickly shook it off and figured he should try again with a different spell, and after rolling to the side to avoid another Shadow's pounce, he turned his Keyblade skyward and shouted, "Thundaga!" Just like last time though, he did not get the powerful spell he was going for, but instead, the basic level one that was nothing more than a single lightning bolt. "Come on already! Blizzaga," Sora complained as he turned his Keyblade on another Shadow, only to groan in irritation a second later, when he only received the simple collection of ice shards that were normal of Blizzard instead. "What's wrong with my magic?"

Ventus was about to shout for Sora to not drop his guard, but the warning was too late, as a Shadow finally scored a hit on the blonde master's first apprentice. Since he was not expecting it, Sora immediately fell to the ground, and quickly raised his Keyblade in a poorly formed defense for the Shadow's follow-up pounce. Thankfully, Sora did not need to worry, as Roxas came to the rescue, slicing the Shadow up with Oblivion after he came out of a spin he had used to strike down a previous pair of Shadows with Oathkeeper. The blonde boy quickly dismissed one of his Keyblades to help Sora up, earning him a nod of thanks from his senior, and the two were more than ready to get back into the fight. They did not need to though, as Xion struck down the last Shadow that Pete had summoned, and they all dismissed their Keyblades in response to the lack of enemies.

Donald, Goofy, and Ven would likely have showered the kids in congratulations on a job well done had Pete not decided to be a sore loser and let out a loud groan of annoyance at his defeat. "You just wait," Pete promised. "Nobody, and I do mean nobody, messes with the mighty Pete!"

 _'I can't help but wonder if that's ironic or not, considering that if he's telling the truth, we were Nobodies when we last met him,'_ Xion and Roxas both wondered to themselves.

"And here I thought your name was 'Captain Justice,' or was that 'Captain Dark,'" Ventus mocked in return, angering Pete even more than he already was.

"So 'mighty' Pete, who lives in this tower anyway," Sora finally asked. He would have directed the question to Ventus, but right now, he felt like the big bully would have just gotten a little more annoying if they acted like they were ignoring him. Apparently Ventus agreed with that sentiment, because he did not say anything in response to who Sora had directed the question to, even if he did want to.

"Oh, ya don't know, eh," Pete grinned. "Well, it's old Yen Sid. 'Course he's probably a Heartless by now."

"Master Yen Sid," Donald exclaimed in a panic, and he quickly raced up the stairs to head into the tower. While Ventus was worried too, he was not panicking as much as Donald. He knew full well that it was going to take a lot more than whatever Heartless Pete had probably sent in to take down Yen Sid.

"Who's Yen Sid," Xion asked, voicing the question that Sora and Roxas were also wondering.

"Yen Sid is the King's teacher," Goofy replied.

"And a retired Keyblade master as well," Ventus added.

"Wow! Sounds powerful," Sora gasped in awe.

"And it also sounds like someone we don't want turning into a Heartless," Roxas pointed out. That got the rest of them to follow Donald into the tower, even if some of them were not as worried about the sorcerer's wellbeing.

Roxas and Xion paused for a minute to throw one more glance at Pete, wondering if he really was telling the truth about meeting them before, but before they could ask anything, Ventus called out, "Roxas, Xion, come on! Just leave the overgrown baby to whatever tantrum he's going to throw in a minute! We've got work to do!"

That got the siblings to rush after the others, while Pete was left to throw that very tantrum that Ventus said he would. It was a little hard to know for sure if Pete cared or not that he was proving Ven's point so well, but if he did know that, anyone would tell you that it would be the reason why his tantrum seemed to get even worse just minutes later.

* * *

When he had come to Yen Sid's tower in the past, Ventus had always made use of a special spell that would allow him and anyone with him to reach the aged sorcerer's study quickly, and without having to traverse the twisting and turning corridors of the crazy stairwell. Granted, it still had the appearance of an average stairwell, but it was still not as crazy as the one that the tower used to keep out intruders. This time though, he did not have a problem with taking the crazy route, because while the tower was capable of dispelling intruders on its own, the blonde master did not want to take any chances on the possibility that the Heartless could get through. So, despite any complaints that anyone might have had, Ventus lead the team up the magical stairwell so that they could get rid of the Heartless that Pete had sent into the tower. It was not a difficult task, given that all the Heartless they encountered were fairly weak, but it was rather grueling and tiring for everyone. Then again, most of them were more concerned with something other than the long climb up the strange, magic stairwell.

"Heartless, Heartless, Heartless! Things haven't changed one bit," Donald groaned as the team stopped for a brief rest in a chamber that was just filled with several Shadows and a Soldier or two.

"Well, it's a good thing we're on the job, then," Goofy pointed out, optimistically, but he was not quite successful in raising everyone's spirits.

"So the worlds aren't at peace after all," Sora asked.

"I wouldn't go that far just yet, Sora," Ventus informed the kid. "The worlds have been at peace or at least something close to it while you were sleeping, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the Heartless were gone for good. They're creatures born of the darkness in people's hearts, and aside from the Princesses of Heart, everyone has darkness in their heart. After all, light begets darkness, and darkness seeks light. The two coexist in balance with one another, but there are always those who seek to upset that balance somehow."

"And that's what's happening now, right? Someone's upsetting the balance," Roxas asked.

"Pretty much," Ventus shrugged. "While the Heartless alone can upset the balance simply because of their natural instincts to seek out and devour more hearts, there have been signs of someone pulling their strings again for some time. More than that, there's also a new set of players out there who are using them for unknown means."

"You mean…" Xion started to say, already suspecting what Ventus was referring to, and ultimately, getting her confirmation before she could finish the question.

"Yep," Ventus nodded. He then smiled a little and finished, "But now that we're all together and taking action again, it shouldn't be too much of a problem for much longer. Like Goofy said, it's a good thing that we're on the job."

That seemed to raise everyone's spirits perfectly, and Ventus was soon leading the team the rest of the way up the tower, and into the main study. The room in question was a large, circular space that was lined with a few bookshelves and other various items that were typical of a sorcerer's practice, while in the center of the room was a large desk, situated before a large chair, and right before the two star-shaped windows, and a third window that was in the shape of a crescent moon. What really caught everyone's attention though was the man seated at the desk, because even a simple glance could allow one to feel the powerful and commanding vibe that he gave off. The man showed many signs of being many years old, even without the long, grey beard he sported, and was dressed in blue robes and a conical hat that was decorated with the same star and moon shapes that the team had seen so many times now, but what really caught Sora, Roxas, and Xion's attention was the look in his eyes. They radiated a rather strict appearance, and one that burned with the fires of one with a vast wealth of experience and discipline, but along with that, there was also a deep sense of kindness and caring in them that could only be held by one who knew just how valuable all the lives in existence were. To say that the three were left a little rattled would be to put it mildly, but their concerns quickly settled when Donald, Goofy, and Ventus all stood at attention before him, with the former two giving a bow of respect to the wizened sorcerer.

"Master Yen Sid," Donald greeted. "It's an honor."

"For all of us, Master," Ventus added. "And it's good to see you again after so long."

Sora glanced at the other three, before looking back to Yen Sid, and figured that he should be as friendly as he could in the presence of the intimidating man. His method of doing so did leave a bit to be desired, as he greeted the older man like he was just any other person. "Hey there."

"Sora! Show some respect," Donald scolded, while Goofy jumped a little in worry, and Ventus, Roxas, and Xion all cringed at Sora's lack of appropriate manners.

Thankfully, Yen Sid did not seem to be offended at all, and quickly waved for everyone to remain calm as a way of showing this. He then smiled a little to Ventus as he said, "It has been far too long, Ventus. You've certainly proven yourself worthy of the Mark of Mastery since passing your examination so long ago, from what I can see of your first apprentice."

"Thank you, Master Yen Sid," Ventus bowed in thanks. "But I only do the best that I can, based on how I learned from my own masters. I just hope that I can continue doing well."

"Do not let that trouble you too much, Ventus. That is a worry and concern that many great teachers have for their students, and it makes them do all the better in regards to the lessons they share with them," Yen Sid assured the blonde with a smile, showing that he truly did understand the feeling. After receiving a smile of thanks from Ventus in return, the retired Keyblade master turned his gaze to the younger Keyblade wielders, and spoke to them. "So, you are Sora, and that would make the two of you Roxas and Xion." It may not have been a question, but the three still nodded in response as if it were one, prompting Yen Sid to continue. "Now then, how much has Ventus told you about the current state of things?"

"Well…just the basics from what we can guess," Roxas admitted with a shrug. Sora and Xion could not add any more to that, feeling that the blonde had summed it up quite well.

"And what of the King? Have you seen him yet," Yen Sid inquired further.

"Briefly," Ventus confirmed. "We didn't have much of a chance to talk to him."

"Yes…the King has been quite busy of late. And the same can be said of you as well, isn't that right, Ventus," Yen Sid noted aloud. "Though I am surprised that you did not tell them everything that you know of the current state of things."

"I felt that it would be better if they received something a little closer to the full story, and the only one who could provide that without Mickey's help would be you, Master, since I know that he has been passing information to you as I have," Ventus explained.

"Of course. I had already suspected that the task of instructing your friends and apprentices on these things would fall upon my shoulders, so I am more than happy to help you in this." When Ventus nodded in silent thanks for this, Yen Sid let his gaze sweep over the group as a whole, and began to tell them what he knew. "You all have a perilous journey ahead of you. You must be well prepared."

"You mean…we have to go on another quest," Sora asked, unintentionally interrupting. Ventus would have likely scolded the boy again had he not heard the hint of sadness in Sora's voice, and he knew of only one reason why Sora would not be so eager to go on another long quest like the one they had taken on the year before. A reason that Sora made clear soon enough. "I was looking forward to finding my friend, Riku, so we could go back to the islands, and helping Ven find Master Aqua again, too, so they could finally be reunited after all these years."

"Yes, I know. However, everything in your journey, Sora, is connected," Yen Sid revealed. "Whether you will find your way home to the islands, whether you will return alone or with your friend, whether you will be able to help your master to reunite with his long, lost love, and whether or not the islands will still be there. Most importantly, is whether you will be able to help your newest friends find that which they seek as well, and the key that connects them all is you, Sora. Even your master cannot take on this quest unless you are standing by his side."

"I'm…the key," Sora asked, hardly believing what he was hearing, and sounding very nervous at the same time. After all, that kind of thing came with a great deal of pressure, which would likely crush anyone beneath its weight.

"Perhaps not the whole key in this case, Sora," Ventus clarified, taking the reins of the conversation. "You, Roxas, Xion, and I are all parts of the key to this matter. None of us can handle this quest without the others, but out of all these pieces, you are perhaps one of the most important."

While Roxas and Xion were both flattered by the idea that their new friends could not handle this quest without them, they were also really worried. After all, they had seen quite a few of the memories Sora had about his last journey, so they knew just how important and how dangerous such a responsibility was. Still, it did ease their worries to know that they were not alone in this, and after seeing how Sora seemed to relax a little more once he had heard this, they knew that he was doing a lot better now as well. When Sora stretched out his hand, both twins did the same, along with Ventus, and at once, they had all summoned forth their Keyblades, as a way of showing their acceptance of this responsibility.

Yen Sid was a little surprised by the fact that Roxas had summoned two Keyblades, with the blonde holding Oathkeeper before him like the others were holding theirs while Oblivion hung down at his side in the other hand, but he did not show it for more than a brief second, and was soon continuing with what he had been saying before. "Chosen wielders of the Keyblade, you are each pieces of the key that will open the door to light."

"Yes Master," Ventus nodded in response, with Sora silently doing the same. Roxas and Xion were a little more hesitant to do so, not entirely sure if they really could help that much, but Ventus did seem to think that they could handle whatever came with joining them, and judging from how assured Yen Sid seemed, they had to assume that the wise sorcerer had faith in them too. So, they too nodded in acceptance of the master's words, and a moment later, Donald and Goofy were standing at attention to show Yen Sid that they were ready for action at any time as well, much to Yen Sid's satisfaction.

"Now then, I believe if you do not have any questions," Yen Sid started to say, only to pause when Xion hesitantly raised her hand like a child in a classroom. "Yes, my dear? What is it you wish to know?"

"Well…I was just wondering why the Heartless are still around? From what I heard, Sora, Ven, and the others defeated them a year ago, so shouldn't they be long gone now," Xion reasoned, and her sentiments were shared by all members of the group, save for Ventus.

"As I am sure that your master has informed you, light and darkness coexist in a balance with one another," Yen Sid began. "Sora, Ventus, Donald, and Goofy's past endeavors did prevent an immense effusion of Heartless from the great darkness; make no mistake about that. However, the Heartless are darkness made real, and darkness yet lingers in every heart. The Heartless are fewer, but while darkness exists in a single heart, it will be difficult to eliminate them."

That made five of the six slumped down in sorrow a little, Sora, Donald, and Goofy more so than Roxas and Xion since they had been the ones to go through all the trouble the Heartless brought a year ago, until Goofy suddenly perked up with a new thought. "Gwarsh, that must mean that if everybody's heart was full of light, them Heartless'd go away!"

Donald and Sora both smiled in agreement with that idea, but Roxas a little more skeptical of that idea. "That seems a little optimistic to me," the blonde stated, bluntly.

"Maybe, but it does make sense, so why not try it," Xion countered with a smile.

"Because it's not quite that easy," Ventus revealed, earning him the others' attention again. "Remember what I said before? Light and darkness coexist in balance with each other, and it's a balance that must always be maintained for the sake of everyone and everything. You can't have light without darkness, just as you can't have darkness without light. It doesn't stop there though, because many things also exist in a crucial balance with one another. Right and wrong, good and bad, and even heroes and villains. You can't have one without the other, and if one were to try and wipe out all darkness for good, then there's no telling what sort of danger may come about."

"So you're saying that despite all the bad things that have happened because of the darkness, we still need to have it around," Sora asked, sounding more than a little skeptical of that idea.

"I'm afraid so," Ventus shrugged in reply. "But then again, darkness isn't necessarily evil, or even all bad. Just dangerous, especially if you aren't careful in how you use it, or how deeply into it that you go. Think about it like this, Sora: despite how much trouble it caused both you and him, darkness did allow Riku to find a way to travel between worlds, and even allowed him to help us seal the door to darkness on our last journey, while simultaneously finding his way to both Mickey and Aqua. That likely would not have happened if your friend did not ever find his way into darkness, even by a little bit. Understand?"

"I guess so," Sora nodded, feeling a little sad about that. He was not too fond about the idea that Riku had to have fallen to darkness in order to help them on their last journey, but he could still see that there were some benefits to that event taking place.

Ventus could tell all of what was going through Sora's mind just from the kid's face, and was satisfied to see that the kid was at least considering all of this, so he nodded to Yen Sid to show that he was willing to let the old master take over again. Yen Sid nodded in return, and then waved his hand to a space of the room at the group's right, as he said, "Now it is time to speak of the enemies that you will encounter." A moment later, an illusionary image of Donald appeared before them, much to everyone's surprise, but especially the real Donald's. A moment later, the Donald Duck duplicate vanished, and was replaced with the image of a Shadow, and while they were a little startled at first, they quickly relaxed when they remembered that it was just an image and not the actual Heartless. "If one such as you, Donald, yields to the darkness in their heart, they too will become a Heartless. But you know this." That earned Yen Sid nods of acknowledgement from everyone, as they all knew that from a certain encounter that none of them could shake away no matter how much they might have wanted to. "The Heartless are always lurking and ever seeking to capture new hearts. Never let your guard down! Now then…"

Yen Sid waved his hand again, and then appearing next to the image of the Shadow, much to Roxas and Xion's shock, was an image of a Dusk, much like most of the ones that they had encountered over the course of the last few days, and the ones that they had all just fought outside of the station in Twilight Town. None of the others seemed to notice the two's sudden moment of worry, at least in regards to anyone who did not already know the two's full history, but only because they were so focused on listening to what Yen Sid had to say about this new enemy that they had just had a close encounter with. "At times, if someone with a strong heart and will, be they evil or good, becomes a Heartless, the empty shell they leave behind begins to act with a will of its own. An empty vessel whose heart has been stolen away, a spirit that goes on even as its body fades from existence. For you see, Nobodies do not truly exist at all. Nobodies may seem to have feelings, but this is a ruse. They only pretend to have hearts. You must not be deceived."

"Nobodies…They don't exist," Sora muttered to himself, as if to better remember the name of these new creatures, never once noticing the slightly sorrowful looks that his two new friends had adopted with each sentence that Master Yen Sid spoke. Though Roxas and Xion did take some solace from the fact that Sora did seem to sound a little sad for the state that Nobodies live in.

Just seconds after Sora had said that, and before Roxas or Xion could comment on it at all, assuming they ever intended to, three more images of Nobodies appeared directly behind the group, startling them a little. "Now then," Yen Sid continued. "The being you see before you is known as a Dusk. They are the most common form of Nobody, but there are others. Some larger, some with frightening and unique powers. Be vigilant! On your journey, you will meet an alarming number of Dusks. They will all attempt to do you harm."

"Some of us more than others," Xion muttered to herself as she rubbed her arm in nervousness. Roxas was quick to place a reassuring hand on his sister's shoulder, earning him a small smile of thanks from the girl immediately afterwards, but Xion could still tell that her brother was just as worried about that encounter as she was.

"Still, they are nothing but empty shells, destined to return to darkness. But…," Yen Sid continued on, before he paused and waved his hand again. At once, the images of the Dusks vanished and became replaced with ones that were far more frightening for Roxas and Xion, if for no other reason than the sense of familiarity that they brought. The images now displayed were those of very human like figures that wore long, black coats with matching hoods that covered their faces. Roxas and Xion were instantly reminded of the vague memories they had of the time when they too wore those same coats, and when they noticed how nervous and on-edge Sora, Donald, and Goofy had suddenly become, their doubts on whether or not they should tell the three about their history grew a little more. "The beings you see before you now are different," Yen Sid pressed on, either not noticing the five's current states or not feeling it was a great enough concern for the moment. "These powerful Nobodies have formed a group called Organization XIII. It commands the lesser Nobodies. As some of you likely know better than others, given your history with them."

"Our history with them…What do you mean by that," Sora asked. He would admit that there was something familiar about these images before him, but he could not place where it was for the life of him. When he turned to Donald and Goofy, he found they were just as clueless as he was, but that was when he finally noticed the hesitant and nervous statures that had fallen over their two newest companions. "Roxas? Xion? What's wrong," Sora asked.

The two did not immediately answer, still feeling unsure if they should, but when their gazes fell onto Yen Sid and Ventus, they saw both masters nod in response, and they knew that it was now time to come clean. If they did not do so now, then there was no telling how Sora would react when he found out later, especially if it came from one of their enemies. Roxas looked to Xion and saw that she looked far too nervous to really say anything, so he steeled his resolve, and took it upon himself to answer the question. "The truth is…My name is Roxas, former Number XIII, and Xion is the former Number XIV of Organization XIII. We are Nobodies, and we used to work alongside of this group," Roxas declared with as much courage as he could muster, despite the sad look he still wore.

All things considered, the three took the news pretty well. "WHAAAAT?! YOU'RE NOBODIES!"

"You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd have thought that they had rehearsed that," Ventus whispered to Yen Sid, earning a rare bit of laughter from said master immediately afterwards.

Apparently, the blonde master had not been quiet enough, because Sora quickly spun around to face Ven after he had spoken up. "Wait, Ven, you mean you knew about this?"

"I did," Ventus replied without any hesitation. "And before you ask why I kept it a secret, the main reason why I didn't tell you was because it wasn't my story to tell, and it still isn't. I would suggest that you at least hear these two out before you make any judgments, though. There's a lot more to them than you can even begin to realize."

Sora was not really sure what to think. After hearing that his new sibling disciples used to be part of the bad guys' team, he was shocked of course, and it did not really help matters hearing that his master knew this fact and still took them on as his newest apprentices. Then again, the latter of those two facts made Sora pause and think for a minute. Ventus would not have taken on Roxas and Xion if he did not have a good reason, and definitely not if they were working with this Organization XIII, so there had to have been more of a story behind all of that. Looking over to the siblings allowed Sora to quickly realize that this was really hard for them to talk about, mainly due to how Xion could barely meet his eyes, or those of Donald and Goofy. Roxas may have had his gaze fixed on them, but somehow, Sora just knew that he was just barely holding together better than his sister. Besides, he also remembered what they said to him on the train ride over about how they had asked Naminé to change their memories for his sake, so Sora finally nodded in response to Ven, and waved for Roxas to explain.

Roxas breathed a silent sigh of relief upon seeing that Sora was willing to hear them out, but he was not going to relax just yet. He knew that would only come if they were still accepting of him and Xion after they knew of his and his sister's story. After taking a deep breath to keep his nerves under control, Roxas began to tell their tale, or at least as much of it as he could remember, while giving Xion a small glance to show that he would be okay with her stepping in at any point when she felt that she should or was able to speak. "Like Master Yen Sid said, the Organization's members are different from the Dusks. For one thing, they are the ones who bare all of the characteristics that he mentioned were typical among Nobodies, namely how they pretend to have hearts. That's because of the same reason as to why they retain a human appearance in comparison to the Dusks: they remember what it was like when they were human. Almost all of the members in the Organization do, except for the two of us."

"So you don't remember anything from when you were human," Goofy asked.

"No. I can barely even remember anything from my first week of existing, not that I really remember that much of my time with the Organization now," Roxas admitted. At the three's confused looks, Roxas explained, "You remember how on the train we said that we couldn't remember anything from the past year since Naminé erased our memories? Well, the Organization is the group we were trying to hide from, and we have been slowly remembering some things from our time with them, but it's mostly just small stuff that would probably be considered important. Things like how we interacted with each other, one of the few friends we had in the group, and how we eventually decided to leave and come help you."

"But why'd you join them in the first place," Donald asked.

Looking to Xion, Roxas could tell that she was not quite ready to explain herself just yet, so Roxas quickly pressed on. "Like I said, I couldn't remember anything at all from before I was a Nobody. To be honest, I'm a little surprised that I could remember how to function as a regular person, and I wanted answers on why I even existed. The Organization said that they could give me those answers, so I accepted. It turned out that they only wanted me around because I could use the Keyblade, and they needed a Keyblade wielder to help with their ultimate goal, hence part of the reason why they added Xion to their ranks as well. When we found out the truth, we made it a point to leave and the Organization does not let that kind of thing happen without a fight, literally."

"So they took advantage of the state you were in at the time, and convinced you to join them because you didn't know any better or something," Sora asked, just to make sure he was understanding correctly.

Roxas immediately nodded in reply, feeling that was an accurate summarization of his story, and that prompted Donald to ask, "But if that was only part of the reason why Xion joined, then what was the rest of the reason?"

"I didn't have a choice," Xion revealed, finally finding her courage to speak up and explain. "I was added to their ranks from the moment I was created, because…I'm not like other Nobodies in more senses than one. You see…I'm actually what's called a Replica. Something that somebody created and the Organization created me using the most precious memories of…of the person that Roxas used to be. I was originally created as a fail-safe in case Roxas ever left or proved useless to the Organization's plans in some way, but they soon found out that as long as I existed and drew power from Roxas's original form through him, you would never wake up, Sora. The Organization never counted on me gaining an identity or sense of will that was all my own, so I guess I surprised them a little when I ran away."

"So I guess that's what you meant when you said that you and Roxas left to help Sora, isn't it," Goofy figured out. "Since you were keeping him asleep, you went to find him so that you could undo the damage."

Xion nodded in response, and while Sora did appreciate that, there was still one thing he needed someone to clear up for him. "There's still something I don't get," the Kingdom Key wielder stated. "I know that Xion was created using someone's memories, but if that's the case, then who's Nobody is Roxas? And why was it that my waking up was delayed because of how you were drawing power from the guy through Roxas?"

"You really haven't figured it out already," Ventus asked in mild disbelief. When he saw Sora turn a perplexed look to him, Ven realized that the kid was serious, so he decided to just give it to him straight. "Sora, Roxas is _your_ Nobody."

"What?! He's my…You're my…" Sora sputtered, looking between Ventus and Roxas rapidly for a few seconds. When he finally managed to get out of his shock, he quickly said, "But that's crazy! I never turned into a Heart…Oh, right."

"It was when you came to retrieve Kairi's body in Hollow Bastion, and used the Keyblade on yourself to free her heart," Xion filled in for him, surprising Sora, Donald, and Goofy with how she knew that. In response, Xion could only sheepishly shrug as she pointed out, "What? I did mention that I was made using your most precious memories. And not only that, but over time, some of your memories flowed into me along with your powers, which is what eventually led to me looking like I do now."

"So that's why you look so much like Kairi! It's because Sora's most precious memories are all about her," Donald exclaimed in excitement, with a hint of teasing, and that quickly earned Sora a teasing look from both him and Goofy.

"What? Come on! They're not… _all_ about Kairi," Sora tried to protest, but the bright blush on his face told a very different story, much to everyone's amusement, including Roxas and Xion's.

When the laughter started to subside a little, Goofy let out a hum of thought that got everyone's attention. "You know, if Xion is a replica of Sora, and she was made using his memories of Kairi, then does that mean that in a way, Xion is like Sora and Kairi's daughter?"

Goofy's comment made the entire room go quiet, save for the sounds of the magic images that Yen Sid had conjured, while Roxas, Sora, and Xion all seemed to become as stiff as boards with wide eyes. Eventually, Sora and Xion slowly started to turn towards one another, before they both jumped a little and looked away with blushes on their faces. "Nope, nope, nope! Not gonna go there," Sora rapidly insisted. "That's just…just…just no! I-I'd rather not…"

"Y-yeah, that's way too weird for me, too," Xion added, clearly embarrassed. "I think I'd rather stick to being considered like a sister to either Sora or Kairi, personally."

"That makes two of us," Roxas agreed, as his own mind had started forming a few ideas that he felt should never have been formed. There were just way too many similarities to that scenario and the one behind the reasons as to why he looked like Ven despite being Sora's Nobody.

"Yeah, that's probably for the best," Ventus nodded in full agreement with his apprentices. _"For more reasons than any of you would care to know,"_ he then silently thought to himself. His mind had already gone to another unique Nobody that had been born under similar circumstances to Xion and Roxas, and he felt it would be wise to keep that quiet for a long time after that awkward little topic was mentioned.

Feeling that they had gotten off track, and that they needed to get away from this very awkward topic as quickly as possible, Sora quickly coughed into his hand and asked, "So how much do you guys remember about your time with the Organization? Is there anything that could help us to better understand them and what they want?"

"Not really," Xion shrugged, eternally thankful to Sora for changing the topic like he did, both because she was now more comfortable with sharing hers and Roxas's history after that little episode, and because it got them away from any more thoughts about the idea that had sparked said episode. "But we do know that they're not like the Heartless at all. All we do know is that they're trying to find a way to gain hearts of their own for some reason."

"Wouldn't that be something you and Roxas want too," Donald pointed out.

"Why would we want something we've already gained," Roxas asked in return. When the other three gave him confused looks, Roxas placed a hand over his chest and explained, "I don't know if it happened after we started looking for answers, when we left the Organization, or at any other time, but at some point before now, Xion and I did gain hearts that were all our own, and unlike the ability to wield the Keyblade, and maybe one or two other things, they didn't come from Sora. We're each our own persons, not anybody else, and we've got the hearts to prove it."

"Huh…well that explains a lot," Sora commented as he assumed his usual easy-going posture, earning him a bewildered look from Roxas and Xion. "I don't really know how the other members of the Organization act, but I do know that you have to have a heart to be as nervous as you guys were about telling us all of this, and you have to have a heart to laugh and cry. You guys showed us you can do all of that even before we left Twilight Town, and if you really didn't have hearts…well, I guess I can't help but think that you would be using duplicates of Kingdom Key instead of your own Keyblades or something, right?"

Roxas and Xion smiled at Sora for a minute before they finally let out a pair of short laughs along with him. "To be honest, we did actually use copies of Kingdom Key when we first gained the ability to wield the Keyblade, but I think it was more of a template for our real Keyblades to use for when we finally got our own hearts," Roxas admitted.

Sora just laughed that off with a soft chuckle, which was accompanied by chuckles from the twins, but all laughter ended when Goofy brought up a new point. "So you can't really remember anything else about the Organization's plans, or what they can do?"

"Aside from our best friend, Axel, no, we don't remember anything about what the other members are capable of," Roxas said. He then paused to think for a minute before he added, "Actually…Now that I think about it, I think that each member had their own breed of lesser Nobodies to command aside from the basic Dusks, but I can't remember much more than that."

"Me neither," Xion shrugged. "All I know is that they were searching for Kingdom Hearts, and that they wanted to find a way to gain hearts of their own, but that doesn't make them any less dangerous."

"Yes, you are quite correct, Xion," Yen Sid said, finally stepping back into the conversation, and turning everyone's attention to him again. "As you said, Nobodies are different from the Heartless, for while Heartless act on instinct, Nobodies function in a higher manner. They can think and plan, and it seems they are working towards a goal."

"Although, that mostly applies to the members of the Organization and not the Dusks," Roxas muttered to the team. "Most of the Dusks are only capable of really thinking of simple battle strategies, but they're not so good at adapting to a new situation on the spot like the more powerful members of the Organization."

Yen Sid nodded in thanks to Roxas for his input, before he carried on like there was no interruption. "What the Organization's exact goal is, we do not know. We do know that it involves Kingdom Hearts, but how exactly it ties into their gaining hearts of their own, and whether it is the true Kingdom Hearts they seek, or a copy like the one you all saw a year ago, is still undetermined. Like Ventus, the King sensed the danger, and journeyed forth to fight it. While Ventus stood vigilant over all of you, and did at times risk spying on the movements of some of the Organization's members, the King has managed to take more active, yet still secret measures. He found the dark realm's Keyblade and Master Aqua, and with the Keyblade and Aqua's assistance, closed the door. Now he's traveling from world to world, fighting the Heartless as he seeks the full answer to the riddle of the Nobodies and Organization XIII."

"So then, I guess that means we should go and find the King first, right," Roxas asked.

"Yeah, exactly," Sora cheerily confirmed, and from the grin on his face, it was clear to see that Ventus had been thinking the same thing.

"But where could he be," Donald asked. He knew that they just saw him in Twilight Town, but if what Master Yen Sid said was true, then the King was likely long gone and off to another world by now.

"Well, we won't know 'til we look," Goofy pointed out with a smile.

"Yeah, and the King must know where Riku and Master Aqua are, 'cause the three of them were together in the Realm of Darkness when we closed the door," Sora added on, his excitement growing more by the minute. It quickly simmered down a little when he noticed that Roxas and Xion suddenly seemed to get nervous again. "What is it?"

"Well…I think…we saw Riku a little while ago," Xion revealed.

"You did," Sora exclaimed, clearly excited. "Where is he?"

"We…We don't know," Roxas admitted. "I'm still not even entirely sure it was him, but he disappeared shortly after someone had taken Naminé away too."

"Well then…Maybe the King knows where we can look for him and Naminé," Sora reasoned. "I mean, if they were together for a while, then he must have some ideas, right?"

Roxas and Xion seemed to consider that for a minute, before they both perked up a little with quick nods, as the latter said, "Yeah, maybe you're right. So I guess it's just a matter of time before we find them all again."

Seeing that they were all now more than willing to get on their way, Ventus nodded in approval of his friends' resolve, and that seemed to be Master Yen Sid's cue to offer something to them. "So, before you go, you will need more suitable traveling clothes. Those look a bit too small for you," the master sorcerer comment, with hints of an amused smile playing on his lips as he indicated Sora's outfit in particular. He then waved towards the door opposite of the one that they had came from, and said, "Through there, you'll find three good fairies. If you ask, they'll create for you appropriate garments."

"Yeah, that would be a big help," Sora chuckled, feeling a little sheepish once again after the latest reminder about the state of his current outfit, while the others all laughed a little at said fact. With that said, they all quickly made their way into the other room, eager to see just what these three good fairies would come up with for Sora, while Roxas and Xion could not help but wonder if they intended to give them new outfits as well. To be honest, they were actually hoping that would not be the case.

* * *

When they stepped into the next room, Ventus had already formed a few suspicions on the identities of the three good fairies that Master Yen Sid had mentioned, but all the same, he was still pleasantly surprised at the sight of the three who were happily chatting amongst themselves when they came in, and he was sure that it showed in his voice when he greeted them. "Flora! Fauna! Merryweather," Ven happily waved to the three, getting their attention.

"Well, look who's here, dears! Little Ven all grown up," the fairy in red, Flora happily said as she gave the blonde master a quick hug, which was quickly followed up with one from each of the other two.

"And you've grown up into quite a handsome young man at that," the fairy in green, Fauna noted as she took in Ven's appearance.

"Though you should probably consider doing something about that beard of yours. It seems like a little too much. Maybe trim it down a little," Merryweather suggested.

Ven could not help but roll his eyes a little at someone once again mentioning his beard. Clearly this was going to be a thing for a while, and it seemed his three apprentices were going to be very amused by it if their barely repressed snickers were any indication. "It's good to see all of you too," Ventus said to the three. "How's Princess Aurora by the way? Is she safe at home again?"

"Oh yes, she is. You don't have to worry about that, dear," Flora reassured Ven. "After you and your friends defeated Ansem and restored the worlds, Aurora and all the others found themselves back home on their worlds again, and with everything set right once more. She and Prince Phillip are now quite happy being home and together again."

"That's great," Ventus practically cheered. "Do me a favor and say hi to them for me when you see them again?" The three fairies all nodded in response, and Ventus took that as his cue to move along to the matter at hand. "Well, allow me to introduce you to…"

"Oh, there's no need for that, dear. We know who they are," Flora revealed, and she then went on to indicate each of the five before her as she listed their names. "Sora, Roxas, Xion, Donald, and Goofy, correct?"

"Yep, that's us," Sora nodded in reply, while the others gave a wave or some other form of greeting for their response. He then looked between Ven and the three fairies and asked, "How do you know Ven, anyway?"

"I met these three eleven years ago on my first journey through the worlds," Ventus revealed. "It's actually thanks in part to them that I was able to beat Maleficent the first time I encountered her."

"Oh, you're too kind, Ven," Fauna insisted, with the other two clearly sharing the modest feeling.

"We only did what we thought was right after you helped us to retrieve Aurora's heart from that mean old witch," Merryweather added.

The three young Keybearers were clearly fascinated by this new information, and likely would have begged to hear the fully story had they not remembered why they were here. "So Master Yen Sid said that you could get us some new clothes for our journey," Roxas asked.

"Ooh, yes indeed," Merryweather confirmed. "If you're looking for clothes, you've come to the right place."

"Yeah…about that…Do you really need to give me and Roxas new clothes," Xion asked. This clearly left the three surprised, and Xion was left thinking that she might have offended them, so she quickly explained her concerns to them. "It's just that…we're really used to our current outfits, and a good friend went to a lot of trouble to help us get them, so I don't want to just trade it out for something entirely different just yet."

"Oh, well don't worry, dear. If your friend helped you pick those clothes out, we won't do too much to change it," Flora reassured them. "In fact, that actually makes things a little easier for you two. Hope you don't mind if we help them first Sora."

"Nah, it's cool, but only if it really doesn't take too long. I think this jumpsuit is starting to chafe a little," Sora reassured them, fidgeting a bit in his too-small outfit as he mentioned that last part.

That earned him a few quick giggles from the three fairies, but the others were not so sure that Sora was entirely joking, given how he was fidgeting around in the outfit. After the three had calmed down, they raised their wands, and with a simple swish of flick of the magical tools, a quick burst of magic in their respective colors had flowed over the twins. When the light faded, their outfits did not seem to have changed at all, save for how they seemed to sparkle a little. All the same, Ventus was smirking a bit at them as he had spotted an obvious change they had not quite taken notice of yet, even as they examined their appearances.

"I'm not sure it worked. Nothing feels all that different to…Whoa," Roxas suddenly exclaimed when he finally noticed what had changed in his attire. There on his arm, was a gauntlet that was almost identical to the one that Sora wore on his left arm, except where Sora's was black with red highlights, Roxas's was shinning silver with black highlights, while the small dial on the gauntlet's wrist area seemed to house a symbol that was identical to the pointed cross he had on his white jacket's zipper.

When Xion saw her brother's new accessory, she quickly looked to her wrist and saw that she too now wore a gauntlet of her own, though hers was colored sea-green with light blue highlights, allowing it to perfectly match with the rest of her outfit. On the dial, she could also see that she had a unique sigil inside of it as well, this one looking a lot like the symbols she had seen on the Dusks, but was colored in a bright, pinkish-red color. "Are these…" Xion started to ask, barely able to believe her eyes at what they appeared to be.

"Yeah, those are Keyblade armor gauntlets like mine," Sora cheered. "Guess that makes it official: You guys are now definitely part of our team."

"What're you talking about? They were an official part of the team long before now," Donald stated.

Roxas and Xion could easily tell what their friends were doing by saying that. This was basically their way of saying that they were still willing to accept the two into their group despite what they had just learned of the twins' history, and as a result, both of them had to smile at them in thanks. Of course, Xion took it a little further and quickly walked up to wrap Sora and Donald both in a tight hug to show her thanks. Not that either of them minded that much, as they had happily accepted her sudden group hug by wrapping their arms around her smaller form barely seconds later. Roxas on the other hand just grinned widely at the group in a manner that they could all say was almost identical to the way Sora would smile when he was especially happy, and it was even more obvious when Sora returned the blonde's grin with the very same expression.

"I hope you don't mind that we decided to give them those. After all, you're going to need to be ready for anything on your new journey," Fauna said to Ventus.

"Hey, if you three didn't do it, I would've. I'm well aware of how challenging this new adventure is going to be," Ventus reassured her. He then glance back at the five and said, "Now how about we finally do something about Sora's clothes, because I really can't take him seriously in that outfit, and I've been trying my best to do so with little success."

"Oh, of course! I'll do the designing," Fauna declared as her two friends escorted Sora to the middle of the room. Once Flora and Merryweather stepped aside, Fauna flicked her wand at Sora, and like Roxas and Xion, the wielder of Kingdom Key found his attire taking on a new change. Unlike the twins though, his was very different, because instead of his outfit changing or gaining a new addition, Sora's clothes ended up just turning into various shades of green.

"Oh, that will never do," Merryweather moaned, and she quickly flicked her own wand at Sora, only this time, she turned his clothes blue.

"Now, now, dears," Flora scolded, but a second later, she was doing the same thing as the other two, this time changing his clothes red.

"But don't you like this better," Fauna asked as she changed Sora's clothes green again.

"Hold on," Flora insisted, changing the outfit red again.

"Are you certain," Fauna asked, as Sora's outfit went back to green again.

"Blue," Merryweather insisted as she changed the clothes to said color.

From the side, the others could only watch in disbelief and slight amazement as a war of colors unfolded over Sora's outfit. It was actually kind of funny from a certain perspective, but to be quite honest, none of them felt like they really had the time for something like this. Still, it did not keep them from commenting on what they were watching. "Wow, they really do end up doing stuff like this," Ventus muttered to himself, his mind going back to a conversation he once had with Merlin and Fairy Godmother in the past year when he came across them during his discreet travels through the worlds.

"How long are they going to keep this up," Roxas asked.

"I think the better question is how much longer Sora's going to last with them doing this to him," Xion argued.

The girl of the three commentators hit the mark right on the nose, as Sora ended up snapping well before the three could reach a conclusion, assuming that was ever going to be possible. "Aww, would you just decide," Sora finally groaned in frustration after his outfit was turned green once again.

All three fairies quickly realized what they were doing, and were soon chuckling at one another, quite embarrassed. After she and her friends had recomposed themselves, Flora cleared her throat and said, "All right, then. Together now, dears, and no more squabbling."

Fauna and Merryweather both nodded in response, and with that, the three all waved their wands at once, letting their combined magic powers wash over Sora in a burst of light. When the glow of their magics died down, everyone was left in awe of the magnificent end result. Not only did Sora's clothes perfectly fit him once again, but they were completely redone, giving him a whole new look that seemed very fitting for a hero. His hoodie was now colored black with white lining, and silver pauldron-like additions to his sleeves, while his jumpsuit was replaced with a navy blue shirt that had a red patch in the center, and pants that were black on the outside, navy blue on the inside, and lined with silver-white edging. Yellow straps criss-crossed around his pants, held together by a black belt, while a pair of large red pockets with a black cross over them was adorned on either side. Rounding out the lower portion of his new outfit were Sora's shoes, which while still fairly big, were now mainly black with yellow along the tops, and silver soles, a zipper running across the top, and black straps holding them together with buckles here and there. Sora's gloves had been recolored to be black on the outside and white on the inside with a yellow line running around them, and in addition to the gauntlet he wore, his Keyblade armor now included a shoulder guard as well, much like the one that Ventus wore on his shoulder. The big differences between Sora and Ven's shoulder guards were the fact that Sora's was lacking any spikes, leaving it really smooth and rounded out, and of course, the coloration of said shoulder armor, with Sora's being mostly red and black. In addition to that, the circular dial on Sora's shoulder armor also seemed to have a faint image of the crown pendant on his necklace, which ended up being the only thing in his attire that had remained the same.

"Wow," Xion breathed in awe at the sight of Sora's new attire.

"Now _that_ is what I call a look that's suitable for a Keyblade warrior," Roxas stated with a grin.

Ventus could only smirk in response, doing his best to keep his own comments on the outfit to himself, because he could only think, _'Now that's a bit more like the Sora I know.'_

"Oh, my," Flora gasped with pride.

"Ooh, it's lovely," Fauna added in the same manner.

"Oh, yes! He does look very dashing," Merryweather finished as Sora just beamed excitedly while examining his new look.

Upon finishing his study of his new clothes, Sora could not help but summon forth Kingdom Key and assume what he could only believe was a serious, heroic pose. The seriousness was quickly broken though when he smiled and asked, "What do you guys think?"

"Looking good there, Sora," Roxas replied, grinning just as much as his former other.

"Oh yeah. You're going to have all the girls drooling over you now. Never mind Kairi," Xion agreed, getting in a little bit of teasing as she did. Her approval of the new look was genuine, but she just could not resist the chance to get in a little bit of ribbing, not when the blush Sora gained afterwards made it so worth it.

"Now, those aren't ordinary garments," Flora revealed to the three, getting their attention again.

"They all have very special powers," Fauna explained while Flora waved her wand and summoned forth a pair of red orbs with odd looking emblem inside of them. The orbs quickly floated over to Sora and Xion, as Fauna instructed, "Take the orbs, dears."

"And watch what happens," Merryweather finished.

Sora and Xion were a bit nervous, but all the same, they reached out for the orbs, and allowed them to be absorbed into their hands, feeling the power inside of them flow through their bodies and into their outfits. An instant later, the two were lifted a little off the ground, and a bright light exploded out from around them, blinding everyone for a moment. When the light died down, the others were shocked to see that Sora and Xion's attire while still of the same design, had undergone quite the impressive change. While Sora's outfit had taken on a red and white color scheme, Xion's had turned gold and emerald green, and they both hand a _fleur-de-lis_ symbol on some part of the outfit. Sora's being on each of his sleeves and pant legs, while Xion's was adorned the back of her now-gold vest on the end of her now-emerald green scarf. The most surprising thing though, was not the color changes, but what had appeared in their off-hands after the sudden change.

"Whoa," Sora and Xion both gasped. For there, in their opposite hands, they found that they were both now wielding a second Keyblade in addition to their regular ones.

"Wow," Donald gasped.

"Two Keyblades! Just like Roxas," Goofy exclaimed.

"Is it weird that I'm actually kinda feeling a little less special now," Roxas joked with his arms crossed.

"Maybe a little bit, seeing as you don't need special magic clothes to use two Keyblades at once," Ventus replied, continuing on with the other blonde's jest, all the while studying the second Keyblades that Sora and Xion were now holding. "Still, I'm a little surprised. I always figured the next time I saw Star Seeker would be when we ran into Mickey again."

Indeed, there in Sora's left hand, was none other than the first Keyblade of Mickey Mouse, in all of its blue, star-and-moon decorated glory. When he heard Ven's comment about the King using his new Keyblade, Sora's grin actually grew a little wider, and he then joined the others in taking a look at Xion's second Keyblade. The handle of Xion's second Keyblade was orange and black, from what the others could see, and possessed a black, circular guard with rough edges. The shaft was a relatively thin, smooth white rod that ended in a black spike, and led off into the teeth, which took on the form of a sideways, black colored version of the symbol that was now adorned on Sora and Xion's clothes. Completing the appearance of Xion's second Keyblade was a Keychain that took on the shape of an arrowhead with a black diamond-shaped gap in the center.

"So what Keyblade is that," Roxas asked Ventus. His answer did not come from the master though.

"Midnight Roar," Xion replied before Ven could get more than one word out. When the others looked at her in wonder, trying to figure out how she had realized that so quickly, Xion just smiled and said, "I don't know how I already know that, but it feels really familiar. I think I might have used this Keychain before."

"Well, that makes sense then," Roxas nodded, as he found it a little familiar as well, now that he thought about it. He then looked to the three fairies and asked, "So…do I get some cool transformation like that, too?"

"I'm afraid not, dear," Flora replied. "While your garments do possess similar powers, they do not come with this one."

"Not that you really need it, seeing as you can already use two Keyblades without a power up like this," Sora reminded Roxas with a smirk.

The blonde could only shrug in reply, though he was still a little jealous that his sister and Sora got such a cool addition to their outfits while he did not. Sure, it was unnecessary for him in this case, but that did not mean he was not starting to feel a little anxious to get his own special power-up form sooner or later. "It's actually a good thing you can all use two Keyblades now, even if it is just temporarily in two of your cases," Merryweather told them. "This journey's gonna be twice as difficult as your last."

"Well I say bring it on. We're practically twice as strong now that we've got Roxas and Xion on the team, so let them hit us with their best shot," Sora declared, even if he did look like he was already feeling a little worn out at the thought.

"Not to worry," Flora added on, seeing right through Sora's brave front. "Each of your garments also have other powers, but you will have to discover what they are as you continue on your journey."

"Okay, we'll do our best," Sora promised.

"And thank you so much," Xion added on with a smile, as she allowed her clothes to return to normal, causing Midnight Roar to disappear a second later.

Sora did the same with his own clothes and second Keyblade just a moment later, and right at the moment when Fauna revealed one last thing to the team. "Oh, and there's something else for you from Master Yen Sid."

"Oh boy," Donald cheered, while the rest of the team all seemed to get equally excited at what the master sorcerer could have for them. All of them except Ven that is, as he just grinned widely in a different kind of eagerness.

"I was wondering how much longer it would be before we finally got to this part," the blonde master admitted, earning him surprised looks from the other five. "Trust me, you guys are gonna love this little gift." He then glanced at his newest apprentices before adding, "But first…Sora, Donald, and Goofy, present arms!"

The three all immediately knew what was coming the minute Ventus had said that, and they were each quickly holding their respective weapons in salute after forming a bit of a circle around their newest friends and teammates. Roxas and Xion on the other hand were a little confused about what was going on, but decided to just go with it for now. That did not mean they were not a little nervous when Ventus told them both to kneel down before him, but they did find themselves overcome with a new sense of wonder when Ven's Keyblade suddenly let out a faint glow as he lowered it towards them. "By the right of the Keyblade," Ventus recited as he tapped his Keyblade on both of Roxas's shoulders. "By the will of Kingdom Hearts," he continued, repeating the action for Xion. "Roxas and Xion of Twilight Town, I hereby dub thee Keyblade Apprentices, future defenders of the worlds."

The minute that Ven's chant had finished the glow on his Keyblade vanished, and seemed to be transferred over to the twins' gauntlets, much to their surprise, even as the gauntlets glowed a little before fading into faint shimmers of light, similar to the ones that had surrounded them just moments ago when their clothes were enchanted. "What just happened," Xion finally asked. "Did you…?"

"Now don't go getting too excited. You're not warriors like Sora just yet," Ventus revealed. "This is more of a way to officially make you apprentices, and make sure that we're all ready for anything, and this time, that does include all of us Keyblade wielders having armor."

"So how come you didn't do that for me when I first became your apprentice," Sora asked.

"Well there is the fact that we didn't have anything for making your armor at the time," Ventus reminded the boy, earning a sheepish chuckle in reply. "And besides, I wouldn't complain too much. You're still at a higher rank than either of these two and your armor's newest evolution certainly reflects that now."

"Huh," Sora asked, glancing at the newest addition to his armor in wonder, trying to figure out what Ventus meant by that.

"I'll explain later," Ventus promised. He then gained a small smirk when he added, "And just so you know, since you are officially a Keyblade Warrior, I could've easily made one of them _your_ apprentice."

"What," all three of Ven's apprentices exclaimed in shock and disbelief, with a small hint of horror in some of their faces.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! No way. I'm not falling for that. There's no way you could actually do that," Sora immediately protested, thinking that Ven was joking when he said that.

"Actually, yeah I can. There's no rule that says that one has to be a full-fledged Keyblade master to take on an apprentice. Just that they are at least a Keyblade Warrior. Though it is usually a high-level warrior," Ventus revealed. "In fact, Master Eraqus often used to tell me and Aqua that he was still a high-level Keyblade Warrior when he first took on Terra as his apprentice. It was only a few months afterwards when Master Yen Sid prompted him to the rank of master, and by then Terra had already been training with Master Eraqus for quite some time."

Sora did not know what to say to that. Sure, he was impressed that Ven's second teacher, or first if you were to ask Ventus, was not officially a Keyblade master when he first took on an apprentice, but he was also more than a little freaked out at the idea that he could have taken on an apprentice who, for all appearances, was likely the same age as him, if not a year younger. While he was not entirely opposed to the idea, he definitely did not feel like he was ready for a responsibility as huge as teaching someone else. Since Sora wore his heart on his sleeve, everyone could tell exactly what he was thinking and feeling right now, and Ven could not help but let out a fond, nostalgic smile, remembering when he was of the same mind as Sora. Of course, unlike the kid, Ventus actually was a fully trained master, and there was the fact that Sora's powers had obviously weakened after his little experience in Castle Oblivion, and the subsequent year-long nap, so he felt that maybe Sora's feelings about his readiness to teach others was a little justified.

Roxas on the other hand was still curious about something, and he could not help but ask, "If Sora was able to train an apprentice though, would you really have to pick for him?"

"At his current level, and since there is still a great deal for him to learn from his own master, yes, I would have to choose," Ventus revealed. "But that would only be if one or both of us felt that he was ready for the responsibility, and I think it's pretty clear by the look on Sora's face that he does not feel ready for it just yet."

Everyone had to agree with him on that judgment, but that still left the other half of Roxas's question unanswered. "So then…which one of us would you have had him train as an apprentice," the blonde asked.

"Honestly…It most likely would have been Xion, but mainly because your unique ability to naturally dual wield Keyblades would require you to train under a more experienced, or at least a fully trained master," Ventus revealed.

"Oh thanks a lot," Xion sarcastically joked. "Nice to know I'd be getting the short end of the stick in that regard."

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean," Sora demanded, but his only answer was another round of laughter from the others, and he could not help but join in after a few minutes.

"All right, all right. Enough messing around," Ventus stated once he managed to get his chuckles to settle down. "We've still got something that Master Yen Sid needs to show us, and like I said, you guys are going to love this."

* * *

Ven was right. The group definitely loved what Master Yen Sid had to present for them, because the minute they looked outside the window, all five of their faces lit up with joy and excitement, some more than others. "Hey! It's the gummi ship," Donald cheered happily with a smile that was almost identical to both Sora and Goofy's.

"Yeah! The _Kingdom_ 's back good as new," Goofy grinned as he led his two friends over to the moon-shaped window.

Ventus could not help but smile, because right outside said window was a gummi ship that did indeed look like an exact copy of their lost vessel from a year ago. Apparently, none of the three had quite realized that it was much larger than the _Kingdom_ had been, but then again, it was not really too obvious, even from this distance, and that was the only change to the ship that could be considered as noticeable. Part of Ven was thankful that he was not the one to dash the three's hopes, but it was still a little disheartening that it had to happen all the same. Not that it stopped Roxas from speaking his mind on the subject.

"Wait a minute. I thought that ship was destroyed when you guys went to End of the World," Roxas had reminded them.

"And you're right. The _Kingdom_ was destroyed," Ventus confirmed causing the first three that had raced to the window to hang their heads in sorrow for a minute. At least until they heard what else Ven had to say. "That doesn't mean all gummi ships were destroyed though, and this ship is proof of that. Well, that and proof of the fact that I wasn't just keeping tabs on the Organization without them knowing it and babysitting you guys for the past year."

Sora, Donald, and Goofy all let out short chuckles in response to Ven's little joke, before the Keybearer of the three finally asked the question. "So you're saying that this is a whole new ship?"

"Not just any new ship," Ventus explained. "What you're looking at is basically the _Kingdom_ 's successor, in more ways than one. It's equipped with all the latest versions of the same equipment that the _Kingdom_ had, plus all of the latest in gummi block technology. New, stronger shields and weapons, an improved flight and combat control system, updated navigational charts, and a computer that's connected to one of the most reliable networks in all of the worlds to make sure that said charts are never out of date: the Moogle Network."

"How'd you manage to get that last one," Donald asked, knowing that getting anything from the Moogles was a hassle in and of itself.

"Long story," was all Ventus said in response while repressing a slight shiver at the memory. "Plus, with a little assistance from Professor Ludwig Von Drake, we also managed to complete and perfect the automated engineering system that links directly to Disney Castle, and allows a couple old friends of ours to perform repair work on the ship without actually being on the ship. Not only that, but the system also allows the ship to even repair itself, if the damage sustained isn't too serious. In addition to this, the ship is now able to travel at warp by default, but we will need to drop out of warp at times if we need to engage any enemies while in transit. The final new feature is probably one of my favorites: the simulator deck."

"Simulator deck," Xion asked, sounding a little excited about what that could mean.

"Sora, do you remember how on our last journey we had to wait until we landed on another world for you to do some of your more serious or intense training," Ventus asked.

"A little hard to forget. There was only so much meditating or magic practicing I could do on the _Kingdom_ before getting really bored," Sora reminded his master.

"Well, now we don't have to worry about that," Ventus replied. "Because this ship is equipped with a special training center on it, specially designed for the use of Keyblade wielders."

"Wow, really," Sora cheered in excitement.

"Yep," Ventus confirmed. "It works in a way similar to Mirage Arena, in the sense that it can create realistic imitations of enemies to fight, and how it's able to create various different battlefields from a standard version to one that's based on the locations in other worlds. Add in some of the features that are still being finalized, but should be readily available within a few days' time, and you'll find that this ship may be more than worthy of living up to its predecessor's name. Master Yen Sid had been keeping it safe for me ever since it was finished, so that we'd be able to get underway as soon as possible. Ladies, gentlemen, duck, and…whatever Goofy is…No offense, pal."

"None taken," Goofy waved off, having heard that query a few times before now.

"Allow me to present…the gummi ship _Kingdom-A_ ," Ventus announced in a grandiose tone as he waved his hand towards the ship in question.

Now the team was especially excited for the trip. It would have been nice to have the old _Kingdom_ back, but getting a new one that was apparently made with all of the latest and best technology was just as good if not better in their eyes. Plus, hearing that this one had its own training center on board was most definitely a major plus in all of their eyes. All the same, Sora was actually really glad that the _Kingdom-A_ looked almost exactly like the old _Kingdom_ from the outside. He was not sure he would be able to consider a ship that looked completely different from the first one they flew around the worlds on as his, otherwise. None of that mattered now though, because all that did matter was that they now had the new looks and powers, and they now had a ship to get them to other worlds, and as far as any of the team was concerned, that meant they were ready to get back out there once again.

"So, you guys all ready to go," Sora asked the group at large.

"Just say the word," Roxas replied.

"Ready whenever you are," Xion nodded in turn, and Donald and Goofy both nodded along in confirmation as well. With that, they all quickly snapped to attention so that they could give Yen Sid a formal farewell, but apparently the former Keyblade master still had something to tell them.

"Now, now, just a moment," Yen Sid cut in before any of the group could get too far. "Because of your previous endeavors, the worlds have returned to their original states. That means the pathways between them have disappeared."

"But then, how did Ventus get to other worlds if he had been traveling to other worlds to keep an eye on the Organization," Xion asked.

"I used a special set of pathways that only Keyblade wielders can access," Ventus explained. "While the gummi ship pathways were lost after the worlds returned to their original states, the Lanes Between which Keyblade wielders traveled before the first gummi ships were built have always held strong against any drastic changes. Sure, there have been times when they were slightly altered or invaded, but those times were few and far between, save for when the Heartless had been attempting to invade our realm last year. Besides, I doubt you'd really want to split up again so soon, and none of you three are ready to travel between worlds like that just yet."

"So how do we get around," Donald asked in dismay.

"Do not fear. If what the King suspected proves true, the worlds have prepared new pathways along which you may travel," Yen Sid reassured them. "These pathways may be utilized by unlocking special gates. How these gates are opened, I'm afraid I do not know. However, the Keyblade will serve as your guide. When a beam of light radiates from any one of your Keyblades, return to the gummi ship. Though the worlds may seem far apart and out of reach, they nonetheless remain connected by invisible ties. As do our hearts."

"Our hearts are connected," Sora recalled, showing that he was not likely to forget the most important lesson he had learned the previous year.

"That is correct," Yen Sid nodded in reply, with Ventus smiling right along with him. The master sorcerer's expression turned serious once more as he continued, "But be warned. As you proceed, the Heartless and the Nobodies will be using their own paths: Corridors of darkness, to travel from world to world."

"Don't remind us," Xion muttered, having more than a few memories of when she and Roxas used those very corridors to get around during their time with the Organization. More than that, she could not help but remember how icky it made her feel to go through those corridors as much as she had, even if it was the only way she possessed to reach other worlds. Roxas was of the same mind as his sister, as he was soon rubbing one of his arms in discomfort at the same memory, too.

"I'm sure you do not wish to be reminded of this, Roxas and Xion, but it is necessary for you to know about this, for your enemies may be attempting to link these dark pathways to the gates between the worlds," Yen Sid revealed to them.

"Hey! That's not fair," Donald snapped.

"Trust me, Donald, from what I can remember, not that many members of the Organization really cared about fairness that much," Roxas informed the duck.

"Doesn't mean we can't still beat them back if they do try to get in our way," Sora pointed out.

"Yeah," Xion agreed with a nod, and the others all shared that sentiment.

Yen Sid nodded in response to this consensus, and then finished what he was saying before. "Now then, that is all the information I can give to you. Go forth, Sora, Ventus, Roxas, Xion, Donald, and Goofy. Prove yourselves to be the beginnings of the legion that will safe guard the worlds against those who threaten it. Everyone is waiting."

The six all nodded in response, and then stood at attention once more before snapping out a salute to the retired Keyblade master. "Master Yen Sid," Donald began.

"We sure do appreciate the help," Goofy continued.

"And we won't let you down," Roxas promised, and with that, the group turned to leave the tower and board the ship.

Only Ventus paused at the door before turning back to the older master, and giving him one last smile of reassurance. Yen Sid could only nod in return before giving Ventus one last set of parting words before the younger Keyblade master left the tower for his newest adventure. "May your hearts be your guiding key."

* * *

A short time later, the new team was all gathered on the bridge of the _Kingdom-A_ , and while the layout was mostly the same as it had been on their old gummi ship, there were a few noticeable changes to the control console in terms of layout. Not that they really minded too much. Most of them were just glad to see that some new seats had been added in so that no one would have to stand or sit on the floor for the duration of the trip. They likely would have taken a full tour of the ship first, but they were all eager to head out, so they figured that they could tour the ship after taking off. That still left one question on one the newest team members' minds, and she did not hesitate to ask after she had finished taking in the sight of the bridge.

"So…can I drive," Xion eagerly asked, obviously very excited at the idea of flying the ship. To be honest, her excitement actually reminded Ven and Sora of how eager the latter was to learn how to fly a gummi ship the previous year, so they could already hear the protest from a certain magician coming before he had even opened his beak.

Since he knew that Donald was going to quack out a harsh no, Ventus immediately snapped the duck's beak shut before saying, "Maybe you should wait until you actually know how to fly the ship before we let you pilot, Xion."

"Oh, okay," Xion sighed in disappointment.

Seeing her dismay at not getting to pilot right away, Sora immediately patted the girl on the shoulder and promised her, "Don't worry about it, Xion. With me and Ven teaching you, you'll be a great pilot in no time."

Xion smiled in thanks for that, and then took up one of the seats at the back next to Roxas, while Sora took the pilot's chair, and the other three moved to the remaining seats. It was only a matter of minutes before they had run through all of the basic, necessary checks for lift off and departure from Yen Sid's tower, and by the time they had finished, they all quickly noticed that they were getting a call on the gummi ship's communicator. Jumping out of Sora's jacket, Jiminy was quick to answer the call, and they were all greeted to the image of two familiar faces, and the sound of equally familiar voices.

 _"Howdy everybody! How you all doin',"_ asked a chipmunk with a large, red nose.

 _"It's your favorite Gummi engineers here, ready for duty,"_ another chipmunk, this one with a black nose reported.

"Oh my stars above! Chip and Dale, is that you two, fellas," Jiminy happily asked.

 _"Yep, that's us,"_ Dale replied. _"Now that we've got the link-up with the ship's engineering systems working, we'll be able to better help you all on your journey."_

 _"Not only can we guarantee quicker repairs than before, but from here at the castle, we'll also be able to keep an eye on any big changes in the worlds, and report them to you the first chance we get,"_ Chip added.

"Really? Well thanks you guys," Sora called back. "Oh yeah! We've got a couple new friends with us too." He then waved for Roxas and Xion to make themselves a little more noticeable to the engineers, and quickly said, "This is Roxas and Xion. They're both Keyblade wielders like me and Ven."

 _"Wow! That means your team has four Keyblade wielders in total,"_ Chip excitedly cheered.

 _"And the mission will go twice as fast too,"_ Dale joked in equal excitement. _"Nice to meet you guys."_

"Same here," Xion nodded in response, while Roxas silently repeated her gesture.

 _"Well, you guys just worry about getting to other worlds and beating the Heartless. Leave the hard maintenance and technical analysis stuff to us,"_ Chip instructed.

 _"And as always,"_ Dale started before both chipmunks finished together.

 _"Happy flying!"_

With that, the communication ended, and Donald began checking the map for their first destination. Sure enough, just like Yen Sid said, the computer was only reading one pathway that the gummi ship could travel, and it only led to one destination, while everything else seemed to be shrouded in a large, green, hazy cloud. "Well that's no good," Donald grumbled. "There's only one place we can go."

"Only one," Sora exclaimed.

"Well, Master Yen Sid did warn us about this, you know. We're just going to have to open up the pathways ourselves, and we'll be doing it as we go," Ventus reminded them all.

Goofy studied the image of the single world on the map that Donald had brought up, and after a minute, he quickly realized something that the others missed. "Hey fellers! I think it's a world we know!"

"Really," Roxas asked, excited at the prospect of visiting one of the worlds that these four had visited before in person, as opposed to just seeing it in a dream.

"Well what are we waiting for? Let's get going," Xion cheered, clearly just as excited as Roxas.

"Right," Ventus agreed. "Sora, set the course, and proceed ahead at Warp-G Level Three."

"The warp gummi has different levels now," Sora asked.

"Hey, I did say that gummi block tech has gone through a few upgrades in the past year," Ventus reminded him.

Sora nodded in conceit of that, and quickly programmed the ship as instructed. "Course laid in, and Warp-G standing by on level three. Ready for lift off."

"Engage," Ventus ordered.

With that simple order, the _Kingdom-A_ and its crew of adventurers were off on a new journey, their destination unknown for the moment, but their objective quite clear. Stop the Heartless and the Organization, before the latter's plans came to fruition, and reunite with their missing friends. None of them could be more excited about this, but their excitement probably would have dropped a little had they noticed the raven flying into Yen Sid's tower with a familiar black cloak, or the sinister laughter that had echoed out from the tower shortly afterwards.

* * *

 _ **AN: So, obviously there's no new journal entry today. To be honest, the next one we see will probably come at the end of next chapter, but I am doing my best to make sure that several chapters are wrapped up with those things, so keep your eyes open, because you never know which part of the story that took place between this one and** Dual Keys **will be unveiled next.**_

 _ **Anyways, moving right along, let's start off with the topic of the Drive Forms. Yeah, Sora and Xion are the only ones who have them at the moment, and they both have a Valor Form. If you'll remember reading Keyblades of Future Past, you should recall that I gave Sora and Kairi both Drive Forms, with the latter having all the same forms as Sora, save for Limit. The only differences between the two being that they took on different color schemes. I'll be honest, I had a hard time deciding what colors Xion's Valor Form would be. I'm really hoping that I made a good call on the decision that made it in. Also, yeah, Roxas and Xion now have Keyblade armors, namely the gauntlet forms of them that Sora and Kairi had in the previous story, while Sora's has been upgraded to that of a true Keyblade Warrior, as you all probably figured out from looking at the cover art for this story.**_

 _ **Sora: Hey, while we're on the subject of that matter, why'd you mention that Ventus could've made Roxas or Xion my apprentice?**_

 _ **AN: Just something I thought of on the spur of the moment. My mind had wandered back to Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and how Ahsoka had ended up as Anakin's Padawan, and I felt like I had to imply something similar could've happened with Sora, and most likely Xion.**_

 _ **Xion: Is it weird that I can totally see that happening to us now too?**_

 _ **AN: Not really. If someone were to do a Star Wars, or a similarly styled AU with you guys, I would definitely see you jumping into the role of, or a similar role to that of Ahsoka and the same goes for Sora in relation to Anakin. You know, except for the whole, Darth Vader thing.**_

 _ **Sora: Unless someone decided to make it that way and then have me get pulled back from the dark side a lot sooner than Vader had been.**_

 _ **AN: Moving on...Now Sora and the others all know the full story behind Roxas and Xion, or at least as much as those two can remember. Honestly, maybe I could have made it so that Sora and the others were a little less trusting of the two, but Sora's not a thoughtless punk who would just forget about all the heavy details he'd already learned about his newest friends, so why make him act like one? And now that he knows that there's a strong connection between him and the two, do you really think he's going to just turn his back on them in any way, whatsoever? Not a chance in hell.**_

 _ **And before anyone asks, yeah, I did have to mention that little about the relation between Xion, Sora, and Kairi. A reviewer had actually brought it up a while back, and I felt like it would lead to some funny ideas and conversations if someone brought it up in the story. And I'd like to think I was right!**_

 _ **Roxas: I don't.**_

 _ **Sora &Xion: Neither do we.**_

 _ **AN: Yes, you've made that quite clear now. Let's move on to one last detail, namely the new gummi ship. Did you really think I wasn't going to bring it back somehow? Obviously I could've said that Yen Sid retrieved the old ship with magic, but I wanted there to be a more solid reason for the ship to have some new upgrades, like the new simulator deck, because yes, that's now a thing, so you can expect a few more scenes aboard the ship in this story compared to the last one, most likely, due in no small part to more impressive training moments taking place on the ship now. And in case it isn't obvious, Star Trek played a large part in the inspiration for the new**_ **Kingdom _, or should I say the_ Kingdom-A _? Need I say more than that? I don't really think I need to mention much more than that, other pointing out the little reference we made to Professor Ludwig Von Drake when Ven was talking about how the new ship was made._**

 ** _Other than that and mentioning a few other changes in dialogue, plus adding in some the newest Kingdom Hearts related lines and such, I don't really think I can talk about much else. Aside from how we zeroed out Maleficent's return. Yeah, that happened like it originally did, so I didn't really bother with going into detail on it here._**

 ** _Roxas: You could also mention the fact that Pete recognized me and Xion from our time with the Organization._**

 ** _AN: Why would I? I mean, that pretty much makes it clear that events from 358/2 Days will be playing something of a small part in how events play out in this story, and people Roxas and Xion met will likely recognize them here, so be ready for all of that._**

 ** _Now, there's not much else to talk about so, let's move Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _The legion's first stop turns out to be none other than Hollow Bastion, and they are all soon greeted by some familiar faces, along with Xion and Roxas meeting one of their biggest idols. Afterwards comes a quick reunion with even more old friends, followed by a request for help, and being who they are, the gang don't hesitate to offer whatever aid they can provide. But not everything involved in their return to Hollow Bastion is so joyous, as Sora, Donald, and Goofy finally find themselves coming face-to-face with Organization XIII, or at least as close as they can get to that. How will Roxas and Xion handle seeing their former allies again now that they're on opposite sides? Will the Organization try to make another attempt to retrieve the two? How will Sora and Ven's old friends react to the two newest members of their team? And what sort of mind games will the Organization try to play on them? The answers are soon to come, next time._**

 ** _Please read and review, happy holidays, and see ya real soon!_**


	9. Old Friends in the Bastion

_**[Opens to show a door with a lit-up sign above it that says "Rehearsal Room. Do Not Enter When Light is On". Minute later, the light goes off and everyone from Keyblades Unleashed Series starts piling out of the room]**_

 _ **AN: Okay, great job today everyone. Let's make sure we keep that up when we finally reach this series's version of KH3. Same time tomorrow, but we'll be running through the big battle at the Keyblade Graveyard, so I'll expect everyone who has a huge part to play in that last fight to be ready.**_

 _ **Riku: Don't worry. We've got it covered. [looks around trying to find something] Hey, did anyone see where Sora and Kairi went off to?**_

 _ **Ventus: Come to think of it, Xehanort's disappeared too. I mean, not that I really care about whether or not the guy's here, because the less time we have to spend in his presence outside of rehearsals and interviews, the better, but it is a little weird that he disappeared that fast.**_

 _ **AN: Well, that's actually a funny story. You see...**_

 _ **Roxas: Uh guys...Why does the Interview room's status currently read as active?**_

 _ **AN: Huh? [turns to a nearby screen that monitors various different features and statuses of the building to see Roxas is correct] Oh my god! We must've gone over the time! The newest chapter of Keyblade Legion is starting now and the readers are already here waiting for us!**_

 _ **Aqua: What?! We'll never make it to the interview room in time if that's the case! It's half way down the building from here.**_

 _ **AN: Not to worry! I've made sure we would be ready for this, and installed several secret passageways that lead right to the interview room! Just got to figure out which one we can use, and which is closest. Hm, let me think...Firemen's Poles behind the bookcase in the study? No, the study's too far from here...Ummm...The secret elevator in the arcade? Wait, that's being serviced right now...Oh! The secret slide in the library. No, that's just stupid and doesn't even lead directly into the interview room. It just leads into the simulator arena where you need to take another slide to get to the interview room. I've got it! The secret roller coaster passage in my dressing room!**_

 _ **Ventus: Wait, wait, wait! Hold on a minute! Why do you have a study, a library, and all that other stuff in this place?**_

 _ **AN: Hey, you build your fantasy studio the way you want, and I'll build mine the way I want. Now, to the secret roller coaster! [leads the way to dressing room, where everyone gathers by a statue of Optimus Prime, the arms of which are the levers] Pull the lever, Ven!**_

 _ **Ven: [pulls the lever, and causes a massive stone fist to slam down on top of AN's head] Heh, whoops.**_

 _ **AN: [groans in pain] Wrong lever.**_

 _ **Ven: [releases lever and watches with everyone else as author springs up and wobbles from side to side like a spring] You know, maybe you should consider labeling these things.**_

 _ **AN: [shakes out of state and pulls the correct lever, catapulting everyone into a roller coaster car]**_

 _ **Announcer: Welcome to the secret roller coaster ride to the Interview Room. Please keep your hands and arms inside the car at all times, and no flash photography.**_

 _ **Terra: [takes a picture just seconds before the flash photography warning, and causes everyone to give him a small look] Hehe.**_

 _ **[roller coaster starts with everyone hooping and hollering in excitement as it goes]**_

 _ **Announcer: Welcome to the studio of lyokoMARVELanime!**_

 _ **[coaster stops and catapults everyone into their respective seats]**_

 _ **AN: [Upon landing and popping up into a proper seating position] Hey readers, writers, reviewers, and more! And welcome back to another exciting chapter!**_

 _ **[audience applause]**_

 _ **Yeah, sorry we're a little late. Rehearsal for later scenes in both this story and the series itself ran into overtime a little bit, but we're back and ready to get into action once again, and that's especially so after spending the last few weeks playing through the newest, big game name to date: Kingdom Hearts 3!**_

 _ **Aqua: Speaking of which, what was your opinion on how good it was?**_

 _ **AN: Quite simple really...It was AWESOME! The worlds, the adventure, the wrap up to so many mysteries, and even the fact that they've unleashed some new mysteries for us is great! The only thing I have a problem with is...Uh, do you think I should add a spoiler warning for folks who haven't played through all of the game's main story before going on, or no?**_

 _ **Ventus: Better safe than sorry, but I'd just keep it vague for now if I were you.**_

 _ **AN: Good point. Anyways, there is one particular point of the game's story that I'm not too fond of, and I'm sure just about every Kingdom Hearts fan can guess what that is. If you can't, I'll just make it simple and say that it involves our favorite OTP of the Kingdom Hearts series.**_

 _ **With that said, allow me to take this time to confirm that when this series reaches that point of the story, even if Kingdom Hearts 4 has come out by that time, I will be making absolute sure that we will not, I repeat NOT be doing the same thing here! While Kingdom Hearts 3 did provide a decent outline for me to work from, there are still more than a few things that will be playing out differently, as if that wasn't already obvious given this series's status as an AU, but this will be especially true for that particular chapter.**_

 _ **Roxas: Just to be clear, you are talking about how things ended for Sora and Kairi by the end of the game, right? And how Xehanort pretty much turned Kairi into the Final Fantasy VII version of Aerith, causing Sora to disappear to parts unknown in order to make sure she could be brought back?**_

 _ **AN: Duh. Roxas, why'd you have to go and give that away? Sorry for the spoiler everyone who hasn't gotten that far in the game yet. But yeah, that's the part I'm not too fond of. I mean, I'm right there with everyone else in hating on how Kairi was being built up to have a huge role in this game only to get made into a damsel in distress again, but look on the bright side, at least we did get to fight alongside her in an actual battle, and not just a cutscene either. Sure, it was one battle, and it wasn't all the way to the end of said battle, but it's...something. Who knows, maybe next game we'll actually get to see Kairi as a playable character.**_

 _ **Namine: We should. Kairi deserves a real chance to show she's not just some damsel that needs to be rescued. What I want to know is why I only had one speaking part, and didn't even show up physically until the very end.**_

 _ **AN: That is also a good question. I get that Namine didn't really have too much to contribute, but come on! There had to be something she could do besides that one little, itty-bitty bit that was there and gone, and the small scenes at the end! Speaking of which, it looks like we've now got something closer to confirmation on certain pairings at last. Namely in regards to the question of Roxas &Xion vs Roxas&Namine and in regards to the question of Riku&Xion vs Riku&Namine. Now, while that does appear to be the case, I will go ahead and say right now that I will not be changing the pairings in this series to match the canon ones. That would require a great deal of rewriting that would change this story around completely, and basically make me have to start Keyblade Legion all over again from scratch, if not a few chapters in the previous story as well. So, Riku&Xion will still be a thing in this series, and so will Roxas&Namine. Maybe in another series I'll do something closer to canon with those four, but it won't be any of my currently active ones. Sorry for anyone who's probably disappointed by that. And yeah, Namine will have a more active role in my version of the Kingdom Hearts 3 story, so be ready for that. Or at least as much of a more active role as I can give her.**_

 _ **Now let's see, what else was I going to mention before we start the story?**_

 ** _Ventus: I think you had a small rant ready for anyone who was worried about Sora's fate after KH3._**

 ** _AN: Right. Thanks Ven. Ahem, let me start off by telling all of you, that I believe, with the utmost confidence that our boy Sora is in fact still alive, well, and already in the midst of his adventure to get back home again. I don't know why so many people think that Sora's dead or somewhere deep in the darkness or something like that, but rest assured, Sora's fine. Tetsuya Nomura, one of the lead creators of Kingdom Hearts himself has said in a past interview, and I quote "Kingdom Hearts is Sora's story". Okay? Not Riku's, not Ventus's, not Mickey's, not Xehanort's. Sora's story! And considering how many things were unveiled in Kingdom Hearts 3, such as plot points that are as of yet unresolved like the matter of the Foretellers, Maleficent and Pete's little treasure hunt, and etc, of course we're going to get a Kingdom Hearts 4, so since the Kingdom Hearts series is Sora's story, there's no way they can continue it without him. Besides that, Nomura also said that this is only the end of the "Xehanort Saga", not Sora's adventure, so we're going to see Sora again really soon. All we gotta do is hope that it isn't another decade at minimum before we get another new Kingdom Hearts game or KH4. And I don't mean some HD Final Mix or HD Collection thing. I mean a legit, full on game. Maybe something that ties leads into the next story like Chain of Memories and Dread Drop Distance. Seriously guys, please don't make us wait for another decade before the next chapter of Sora's story is released. I get you might want a break or something, but I don't think many of us can wait that long after that ending. Again, I'm referring to the part involving Sora and Kairi specifically._**

 ** _Also, I gotta ask, why do so many people assume that the Master of Masters is somehow Sora? Sure, he's playful and has a strange nature that's similar to Sora's, but that doesn't mean he is Sora. I mean, how could that even be possible? The guy was already an adult long before Sora was born, and nobody say something about time travel magic crap. Besides, we've already got one evil version of Sora in Vanitas. Do we really want another one?_**

 ** _Ventus: Asked the guy who made the ultimate villain of his first Kingdom Hearts story into a grown-up, evil version of Sora who could use the x-blade._**

 ** _AN: Okay that was totally different, and you know it._**

 ** _Aqua: What makes you so sure he's evil though? Or for that matter, why do you think the foretellers are evil, because I know you probably do._**

 ** _AN: Well not all the foretellers. Ava's the exception, but let's look at the facts: their new leader, Luxu, has been revealed to be Xigbar AKA Braig, a guy who has been nothing but trouble since day one. They're also the ones who practically jump-started the Keyblade War, which led the worlds to be destroyed and all of that jazz. And of course, there's also the new game that we saw Young Eraqus and Xehanort start, which involved seven black pieces, some of which had symbols on them that matched up with the foretellers' respective animal mask, and we can guess that the other do too, and once Eraqus had lined them all up, he placed down the piece with Sora's crown emblem on it, which can only be a sure sign that Sora's going to fight these guys. Besides, even without all of that, there's just something about those guys that I don't trust._**

 ** _Xion: Maybe we should answer some reviews before you go on another rant._**

 ** _AN: Oooh...we would, but unfortunately, we are out of time for the beginning note, but maybe in the ending note, and if not there, then we definitely will answer those questions next chapter, assuming that today's chapter doesn't already do so. Now, onto the adventure, everyone!..._**

 ** _I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story._**

* * *

 **Chapter IX**

Even though the gummi ship was traveling at a very fast pace, it was still going to be a few hours before the team arrived at the only world they could travel to from Twilight Town at the moment. With that in mind, Ventus decided to take some time in giving Sora and the twins a little crash-course in some Keyblade training, along with teaching them how to work the controls of the simulator deck. Learning that was not really all that hard, given that most of it was run by voice commands, with only a little need for actually typing something into a control panel, either outside the door onto the deck in a small archway inside of it, so most of the demonstration was really just showing off what they could use the simulator deck to for. Ventus had no problems cycling it through various locations from worlds that he and Sora had both visited, and got a little bit of a kick out of how the three kids would glance around them in wide-eyed awe, but he was especially happy to see how their faces lit up when he changed the settings so that the simulator deck was creating an exact replica of both Twilight Town and Destiny Islands. It was clear that there was a bit of sadness in their eyes, but there was also a great sparkle of happiness in them that showed Sora, Roxas, and Xion were happy being able to at least see their worlds from something other the data in the world map. Of course, that did not stop Ven from chuckling a little at how excited Xion and Roxas got when they saw the Destiny Islands program, or when they began begging for Sora to take them to visit the first chance they had.

After letting the kids enjoy the simulation of Destiny Islands for a few more minutes, Ventus finally switched the program over to a projection of the world he grew up on: the Land of Departure and Sora was once again left in awe of at the sight of the magnificent world. Sure, he had already seen an illusion of it once before, back during his first adventure, but the place was just so amazing that you could not help but feel overwhelmed at the sight of it every time. He figured that Ventus was not the same way because he had gotten used to it after growing up there for so many years, but he was a little relieved to see Roxas and Xion were marveling at the sight of the magnificent castle too. Otherwise, he was sure that he would have felt like a little kid visiting a famous amusement park for the first time.

"Now then, since we have some time to kill, I think we should get you all started on some proper magic training," Ventus announced, getting the kids' attention.

"But Xion can already do magic well enough on her own. Does she really need training for it," Roxas asked.

"While she has cast some spells very well so far, a little training can help so that she can do better at the art. Besides, like the old saying goes, you can never stop learning," Ventus informed his fellow blonde. "Besides, I'd like to know that when you and Xion use magic, you're drawing on the true source of magic energy inside you, as opposed to just drawing it from wherever when you cast the spells."

"Because if don't draw from that specific source to cast a spell, then you'll be drawing it from the energy you need to keep fighting, and that would be a lot more dangerous, right," Sora finished for his master.

"Exactly," Ventus smiled in approval, glad to see that Sora remembered a lesson from so early on in his training. "Though you are not too wrong in saying that Xion should not need too much help, Roxas. Since she's already cast a few spells several times now, it may not take long at all for her to reach that source of magical energy inside of her, but she's still going to be joining you in reaching for that source."

"Okay, so what do we have to do," Xion asked, not noticing that Sora was smirking at them in a way that was almost teasing and smug at the same time.

"Well, that's the part you two probably won't like as much. In order to truly connect with your inner source of magical energy, you're going to have to meditate," Ventus revealed, instantly showing both twins why Sora's expression was the way it was.

"Seriously," Roxas groaned while Xion could only let out a small whine of misery. Neither of them was too fond of just sitting still for very long, and that was a very basic part of meditating. "You mean we have to sit around for hours at a time with our eyes closed while going "Yohmmm."

"First off, it's not 'Yohm,' it's 'ohm,'" Ventus playfully corrected. When the twins just gave him flat looks in response, he got serious again and said, "Secondly, yeah for the most part, but I doubt it will take you hours at a time. It shouldn't be too hard, and if you keep a dedicated mind on it, it shouldn't take you as long to draw on that source for the first time as it did Sora. Or me for that matter. Just remember, in order to do this, you need to relax yourselves, steady your breathing, and quiet your minds as you look inside yourselves. Once you feel the magical energy inside of you, try to pull it to the surface."

The twins both nodded in response, seeing that there was no way around this, and immediately sat down on the large, open lawn that lay before the floating castle that was a near perfect copy of Ventus's former home. Upon nodding in satisfaction on the two following his instructions, the blonde finally turned to his first apprentice and said, "And you, wipe that smirk off your face. You're not getting out of this. Don't think I've forgotten how much your magic power has regressed after your little nap, so for your training, I want you to work on getting your magic powers back into their former fighting shape."

"You don't mean that I'm gonna have to…" Sora started to nervously ask, thinking that Ven was going to make him join in on the meditation session.

"Only if it's totally necessary," Ventus admitted. "For now, I just want you to practice casting the spells. Your goal will be to increase your power to the point where you can easily use spells like Fira, Blizzara, Thundara, and Cura without too much effort again. If you manage to get further than that with any other magic I taught you last year, then that's fine, but those are the four I want you to focus on the most. Oh, and practice with your Command Styles and Shotlocks as well, just to make sure you haven't lost your touch with either of them, or to help remind you of the feeling that both have when you are using them."

Sora nodded in response, and immediately moved to a different area of the simulated world, while Ventus was left to guide the newly apprenticed Keybearers in their meditation. It actually took Xion very little time to complete the exercise, likely because she had already figured out how to use magic on her own, but Roxas seemed to struggle a bit more with it. Clearly between the two twins, Roxas was the one who was not likely to be using magic all that much, or he just did not enjoy sitting still for a very long time, but Ventus was determined to help him learn at least a little bit of magic. Thankfully, Ventus had learned a great deal more patience from when Sora went through this exercise, and somehow managed to guide Roxas through to completion. While the two blondes were doing that, Xion actually went to train with Sora, both to get his magic back up to its original level, and so that she could improve her own.

Despite his earlier hesitancy, Sora actually did not have too much of a problem with teaching Xion the basics on how to use some spells, but the most he really did was give her a rundown on how to get a feel for and use lightning magic. Still, his instruction must have been pretty good, because by the time Ventus and Roxas had finished with their work, the girl was easily casting Thunder on the practice targets that were in the castle courtyard, while Sora was shooting out blasts of Fira and Blizzara left and right. Seeing this made Ventus smile a little, and even start to reconsider making Sora into Xion's teacher just a little, but he knew that his first kid had to worry about getting back up to snuff before he was even close to being ready to be an official teacher, so for now, he would have to settle for having Sora be just a bit of a tutor for the twins. He was actually about to let Sora have a go at teaching Roxas a spell or two when Donald's voice quacked out an announcement of their arrival via the ship's intercom.

All thoughts of further training were lost from the four Keybearers' minds, and Ventus quickly told the computer to end the simulation for now so that they could return to the bridge. Sora's first thought was that they were going there to get Donald and Goofy before heading for the ship's teleporter, but Ventus surprised him yet again when he told Sora to take the pilot's chair again, and bring them in for landing. Sora's confusion was understandable, as the only world that they were ever able to land on in their previous journey was Traverse Town, and this definitely did not seem like the refuge world that Sora had first met his master and traveling companions on. Still, Ventus insisted that it would be fine, due to the fact that the people of this world were very familiar with the fact that there were other worlds out there, so Sora decided to take his master's word for it and brought the ship down for a landing. Upon passing through the world barrier, they all saw a small town that rested at the base of a castle that was in a similar state of disrepair, and after a minute or two of staring at the castle, Sora, Donald, and Goofy instantly realized why this world looked so familiar, even at a distance.

"Hey, is this…" Donald started to ask.

"Yeah! It's Hollow Bastion," Sora cheered happily. He was a little surprised at himself over how happy he was to be back on the world that had once been the home base for the bad guys, and the source of so much misery for him and his friends, but then again, he also knew that this was the world that some of those friends were originally from, so maybe that had something to do with it.

Ventus had to admit, he was a little glad to see that this world was in much better shape now when compared to how it was the last time they were here, but he was still a little upset at how rundown everything looked, and could not help but hope that it would be returned to its former glory someday soon. He quickly shook it off though, as he instructed, "Try to set us down somewhere on the outskirts of the city, Sora. There should be something of a port for gummi ships somewhere around there."

"How do you know that," Roxas asked, honestly curious.

"Ansem the Wise, the ruler of this world had set it up shortly after Mickey and I first came here in a gummi ship, and after he and a few others began to do some of their own gummi block work as well," Ventus explained. When he saw a few nervous looks appear on the others' faces, he quickly assured them, "Not Ansem as in Xehanort's Heartless. The real Ansem."

"Oh, okay," everyone sighed in relief, and with that said, Sora brought the _Kingdom-A_ into the port that Ventus had pointed out. They could see a couple of other ships docked there as well, but they were very different from the one that the team called their own, so it was no surprise that some of them stopped to admire the vessels before they moved to disembark from the ship. Upon doing so, they all quickly raced over to the market square that they had seen as they were flying overhead, and the four who had been here before could not help but notice even more changes to the world now that they were getting a much closer look.

"Gawrsh, it sure looks a lot different now," Goofy noted aloud for everyone.

"Well I should hope so, considering the last time we were here, the place was crawling with darkness," Ventus lightly joked, earning smiles from everyone.

"I remember seeing some of Sora's memories about this place from back then, and even in those dreams or visions, I got a few chills," Xion admitted.

"Yeah, I like the feel of this place a lot better as it is now compared to that," Roxas agreed.

The others had to nod in agreement with the twins, before Donald said, "I hope Leon and the gang are doing okay."

"Well, why don't we go and see. Then we can introduce them to Roxas and Xion while we're at it," Sora suggested, and he met no resistance to that idea. At least, not until Goofy spotted something up on the rooftops that was definitely worrisome.

"Uh-oh. Looks like we're gonna have to do some fightin'," the knight informed his friends, making them all turn to see a pair of Soldier Heartless dancing around on the rooftops before they vanished into the shadows that they normally came from.

"Why am I not surprised," Ventus muttered. He quickly shook his head though, and reached out with his senses in an attempt to measure how many Heartless were in their current area. After a few seconds though, he found himself happily reporting, "Well on the bright side, this area doesn't seem to have very many, or really any Heartless at all, so the people can go about their shopping without worry."

"And the bad news," Sora asked.

"We're going to run into more than a few of our old, shadowy friends once we get into the residential area," Ventus admitted.

"Well, at least we can make sure we've gotten stocked up on any items that we might need before we get there," Xion shrugged, hoping to help everyone look on the bright side of things, and judging by their smiles, she definitely succeeded.

Their spirits were lifted a little more after the group had moved further into the market, because they were quickly greeted by several local people who recognized Sora, Ven, Donald, and Goofy as the heroes who had freed their world from the Heartless. No doubt the four were so well-known due to some stories that their old friends had told, or because these people had encountered them once or twice in Traverse Town, but there were three particular individuals that recognized them for other reasons as well. Those three were a trio of brothers that you could only tell apart based on the colors of their shirts and hats, and they all lit up with excitement when they saw the four, and especially in the case of Donald.

"Hey Unca Donald," the red-clad Huey waved happily.

"Where ya been all this time," Dewey asked as he jumped out from behind the counter he was working.

"Yeah, we almost thought you had blown your last fuse and took Ven and the others with you," Louie added on as he rushed up to his brothers and uncle.

Donald could only grumble under his breath at his nephews' comments, while the others just barely managed to keep from laughing at his expense. Still, it did take a little effort to not at least chuckle a little, so it came as no surprise that Ventus still needed a minute before he stepped forward to answer in Donald's place. "We've just been a little…preoccupied with some other matters, but we're now back on the job, ready for another adventure, and with some new friends along for the ride too."

The triplets then took notice of Roxas and Xion, and quickly gave a small wave to them as they were all introduced to each other. The three boys actually seemed to open up to the twins pretty quickly, but the ducks also took a minute or two to study the twins before one of them had to make a comment on something about them. "Say, you look a lot like Kairi, Xion. Are you her sister or something," Dewey asked.

Xion probably should have seen that coming, but after the little discussion that was had at Yen Sid's tower regarding her relationship to both Sora and Kairi, she could not help but get a little flustered upon hearing the question. "Uh, no, I-I'm not related to Kairi," Xion informed him. "I'm actually…uh, I'm…"

"She's my sister," Sora filled in, surprising Xion when he did. "She and Roxas both are my younger, long-lost siblings that we just found a little while ago."

Upon hearing that, Roxas was quick to share in Xion's surprise, as neither of them had thought that Sora would be so quick to start telling people something like that. If anything, they figured he would be a little more hesitant to tell after learning about their real origins and relations to him, and yet here he was, informing Donald's nephews that they were in fact related to him. Sure, it was not an entirely accurate description of their relationship, but it was still surprising that Sora would go for that choice of description all the same, hence the reason why both were looking at Sora with wide, surprised eyes. Thankfully, the three young ducks did not seem to take notice, as they were obviously puzzling over something else.

"Wow, really," Huey asked. "Hmm…Now that you mention it, they do seem to share a few similarities to you, Sora, but I kinda figured that Roxas was related to Ven when we first saw him."

"Yeah, he even looks a lot like him, except without that silly beard that Ven now has," Louie mentioned.

"Seriously, is this really going to be a thing that everyone does," Ventus grumbled under his breath.

Roxas smirked at Ven's displeasure while the others just chuckled a bit, before he informed the three ducks, "Well, no, I'm not related to Ven, but I do get why you would think I was."

"Say, how'd you three get here from Traverse Town, anyway," Goofy asked, honestly curious about that, and the twins were actually pretty thankful that Goofy pulled the attention off of them for now. They did not want to really explain too much about themselves without having a solid story to tell others just yet, and they wanted to check with Sora to make absolutely sure that he was okay with him telling people that the three of them were related, beyond just the status of sibling disciples.

"Oh that's easy. We flew here with Unca Scrooge in his gummi ship," Huey informed him.

"Yeah, and believe it or not, he actually flew the ship himself instead of calling up Launchpad to do it," Dewey added on.

"It's probably a good thing that he did, if you ask me, because otherwise, we probably wouldn't have a ride home right now," Louie finished.

"Scrooge?! He's here too," Donald gasped, while Xion and Roxas just exchanged intrigued glances with each other, both clearly wondering the same thing at that moment.

"Yeah, who do you think owns most of the market around here at the moment," Dewey asked. "He's mainly leaving us in charge of it all so he can focus on a personal project of his that he claims is really important."

"He wouldn't tell us what it is though, so you'll have to ask him yourself," Louie advised, probably thinking that one of them was going to ask that question after hearing about that.

"We'll be sure to do that if we see him," Ventus nodded to the three, and with that, the team bade the three boys goodbye for the moment, and prepared to head off towards the residential area. Just when they were about to the exit of the market though, they came across a well-dressed duck in a top-hat, who was muttering under his breath in a Scottish accent, and Donald was the first to identify him. Though they all missed how Xion and Roxas seemed to freeze in their tracks and go wide-eyed at the sight of this same individual.

"Uncle Scrooge," Donald called out.

"Okay, who's this Scrooge person you guys keep mentioning," Sora finally asked, not noticing how Xion and Roxas had frozen up at all. Though that may have been mainly because they were standing just a short distance behind him.

"He's Donald's uncle; a business typhoon," Goofy explained. "Before the Heartless showed up, he traveled the worlds on a gummi ship with the King. He was helping to set up a traffic system."

"A transit system," Donald corrected.

"Guess this must have been a short time before I started training under Mickey," Ventus noted aloud, turning the attention to him. "I remember meeting him once, right here in this world actually, back during my very first journey through the worlds, and my first visit here. In fact, he gave me a few lifetime passes to Disney Town as thanks for saving him from a dangerous Unversed."

"You know, I don't think you ever really explained what an Unversed is to me," Sora recalled.

Before Ventus could answer, the duck that they were just talking about seemed to finally realize that they were all there, because he immediately called out, "What's all the racket?" The well-dressed duck then turned to face the team, allowing them to see that he did show signs of being pretty far up there in years, even without the glasses and cane, along with the popsicle in the hand that was not holding his cane, but his smile would make one think he was still a very young man with how bright it was. "Why, if it isn't Donald and Goofy! Hello, lads," Scrooge cheered. His eyes then settled on the blonde Keyblade master as he added, "And…hold on. Bless my bagpipes! Ventus, me lad, is that ye? I almost dinna recognize ye, seeing as yer all grown up, and sporting a rather bushy beard now, I see."

Ventus barely kept himself from rolling his eyes at someone else calling him out on the beard for the second time in barely more than five minutes, but still managed to keep smiling as he said, "Good to see you too, Mister McDuck."

"Now hold yer horses right there. I won't be having ye refer to me like that. After all, ye saved my life once and yer a friend of the King, Goofy, and me nephew, Donald. Ye can call me Scrooge or Uncle Scrooge, and that's all I'll accept," the adventurous duck insisted.

"Of course," Ven nodded in reply. He then motioned to his three apprentices so that he could introduce them, and said, "While we're getting names out there though, I'd like you to meet our friends, and my apprentices. This is Sora, my first apprentice, and…"

That was as far as Ventus got in his introductions, because right as he was about to introduce her and Roxas, Xion let out an excited, high-pitched squeal that made everyone jump nearly ten feet in the air. A minute later, the ravenette was talking a mile a minute as she cheered, "Ohmigosh, ohmigosh, ohmigosh! It's really him! It really is him!" Xion was then shaking Scrooge's hand so fast that they all could have sworn their arms were moving at super speed, all while she excitedly stuttered, "It is an honor to meet you, sir, Mister McDuck, sir! I'm a huge fan! Probably one of your biggest fans! My brother is too, but not as big as me!"

Anyone else probably would have been a little freaked out by this sudden display, but Scrooge had clearly been through this a few times in the past, because he managed to just laugh it off as he replied, "Well, aren't ye quite the spirited young lass." He then studied Xion closely, even as she was still shaking his hand, and then Roxas a minute later, before he asked, "Tell me, lass, are ye and yer brother from Twilight Town, by any chance?"

"Yeah," Roxas confirmed in surprise. "How'd you know?"

"Well, while I've been to many a worlds in me travels and adventures, Twilight Town is one the most memorable for me, and it's also been one of the few worlds I've been to that I was pleased as punch to be remembered in," Scrooge chuckled. "Why, I still remember when they asked me to tell them the stories of my past adventures so they could make that documentary series, and it does earn me a wee bit o' more gold in my fortune from the royalties, even to this day. Still, it also does me good to know that so many people follow my stories like this, and even more that they seem to follow in my footsteps because of it. I just hope you remember the lessons I learned in those adventures while yer out there traveling the worlds with these lads."

"Of course! After all, what better teacher for how to get through an adventure is there than the experiences of one of the best, right," Xion cheered, having finally let go of Scrooge's hand.

"Aye, that is true, but there's also the lessons ye learn from yer own experiences as well, lass," Scrooge informed her. After getting an eager nod in reply, Scrooge then chuckled, "Oh, but where are my manners? I canna be meetin' such an adoring fan without learning her name, now can I? So what do I call ye and yer brother, lass?"

"Oh! I-I'm Xion, and this is Roxas, sir," Xion replied, honestly surprised that her excitement did not cause her to get their names mixed up when she did, though that may have been because Roxas had stepped forward to place a calming hand on her shoulder as a silent reminder to breath.

"Charming, respectful, and well-mannered. I like ye more and more every minute, Xion," Scrooge chuckled. He then turned to Ventus as he said, "You know, she actually reminds me a little of yer friend, Aqua, and of when I first met her as well. Just without the same burst of excitement."

Ven could only smile at that thought, even if it did bring up a few less happy memories for him, but he quickly shook that sadness off in favor asking the big question he knew that they were all wondering about the richest duck in the worlds. "What brings you back to this world anyway, Uncle Scrooge?"

"Ah, well after I heard about what happened and how they were trying to rebuild this world after driving out the Heartless, I remembered how lovely this place was, and I felt it woulda been a poor waste for it to not be restored to its former glory as soon as possible, so I figured I'd come and lend whatever bit of me services I could," Scrooge explained.

"And it would also earn you a little extra money if you were to start up some new businesses here too, right," Donald guessed.

"Aye, ye know me too well, lad," Scrooge chuckled. His humor quickly died down though, as he admitted, "At least that was the plan. See, I was hoping to open a new ice cream parlor here; one that carried a unique flavor that I discovered on me very first visit to this world and felt needed to be shared with other worlds as well, but I canna seem to recreate the old-time recipe for the life of me. I'd make millions if I just got it right…" He then paused to do a quick taste test of the Popsicle he was currently holding, only to make a face as he spit off to the side in an attempt to get the taste out of his mouth as he said, "Terrible!"

"Unique flavor…Are you trying to make sea-salt ice cream, by any chance," Roxas asked with excitement now seeping into his own voice.

"Aye that I am, laddie. I suppose I shouldna be surprised that you guessed that so quickly. After all, Twilight Town became even more well-known for that flavor than even this world had ever been after I introduced the recipe to the locals that I hired to help set up me parlor there," Scrooge confirmed. He then seemed to think something over for a minute or two before he asked, "Say, ye know, I could probably use a few taste testers for when I finally remember the recipe and get it right, so what would ye say to ye and yer sister being the first ones to try it out?"

"Really?! You mean that," Roxas asked, clearly even more excited than before. He may not have been as big a fan of the _DuckTales_ as Xion, but when it came to ice cream from McDuck's Tasty Treat Parlor, and especially sea-salt ice cream, he and his sister were definitely equally huge fans.

"Of course," Scrooge nodded in reply. "After all, I canna be sellin' something if I don't know for sure that it'll be as close to the best as it can get. And as an extra special treat, I'll even make each of yer first ones on the house. What do ye say?"

"We'd love to," Xion cheered with a grin that could not possibly get any brighter or wider even if she tried. "I mean, how many people in Twilight Town can say that they've actually had ice cream that was made by Scrooge McDuck himself these days? It'd be a huge honor."

"Splendid! Splendid," Scrooge heartily chuckled in response. He then turned to the other four and added, "And dinna you lot worry; I'll be sure to save a few helpings for ye as well, if ye'd like."

"Sure thing," Sora agreed, now very eager to try out the ice cream flavor. After all, Roxas and Xion were clearly making a big deal about it, even before they were offered a chance to try a variety that was made by Scrooge McDuck, so he could not help but feel just as excited at the prospect.

Ventus nodded along with his apprentice as well, as did Donald and Goofy, but the blonde master knew that they needed to stay on task, and the first part of doing so required certain information that he figured that Scrooge might know about. "Say Uncle Scrooge, you wouldn't happen to know if anyone by the name of Leon or anyone who knows him is somewhere around here, would you," Ventus asked.

"Ah indeed I do," Scrooge confirmed. "Leon and the others are all in the borough. They've set up shop in Merlin's house, so yer most likely to find them there or my name's not Scrooge McDuck, richest duck in all the worlds."

"Thanks. We'll let you get back to work then. Lots to do and likely not much time to do it in. You know how it is," Ventus bade in farewell.

Scrooge merely tipped his hat in return, and the team quickly started to depart, but not before Xion added a farewell of her own. "It was an honor meeting you, Mister McDuck."

"Ah, call me Uncle Scrooge, lass," Scrooge insisted once more. "That goes for ye and yer brothers."

Xion nodded in response as her expression brightened even further than it already had, and for the rest of the trip down to the borough, the others could have sworn she was floating through the air with how happy she was at that moment.

* * *

The walk from the market to the borough was not too terribly long, even if the team was not rushing there as fast as they could. Not that they really had too much of a reason to rush, other than an eagerness to introduce Roxas and Xion to all of the friends that the team had made on their last adventure, but still, there was just something about racing through the streets of Hollow Bastion now that made them feel a little more at ease. At least, that was the thought they all shared until a beam of light suddenly sprung up right in front of Sora. Naturally, the kid had jumped back a little when it appeared, and everyone was soon stopping to look around as more similar beams materialized around them before disappearing again a few short minutes later.

"Hey, what's going on," Donald demanded.

The others could only shrug in reply, not really knowing the answer either, but it turned out that none of them needed to know. Someone else was more than happy to fill them in, as proved when a new voice suddenly answered, "That's the town's defense mechanism."

"What? Who said that," Roxas asked as he and the others all started looking every way that they could to find the speaker. Of course, he and Xion were a little more on guard than the other four, but that was only because the other four had looks of recognition on each of their faces when they heard that voice.

It turned out that Sora was the one spotted the person in question, and he quickly pointed them out to the rest of his friends when he waved upwards to someone on the rooftops above them and called out, "Yuffie!"

Sure enough, there on the roof of a nearby building, and clad in a new, mostly black wardrobe was none other than the self-proclaimed Great Ninja Master herself, smiling like no tomorrow at the sight of her old friends, and offering up a wave in response to Sora's call. The others likely would have waved back in reply, but all thoughts of doing so were quickly forgotten when Yuffie's eyes suddenly widened in alarm, and she shouted, "Look out!"

Sora barely had enough time to turn to whatever it was that made Yuffie raise the alarm, but thankfully, Roxas was able to intervene just in time, and batted away the Dusk that was about to attack the wielder of Kingdom Key with Oathkeeper. He then quickly summoned Oblivion into his other hand, and parried a few strikes from another Dusk, and just like that, the others were all drawing their weapons and preparing for battle once more. "So much for leaving these guys behind for a little while," Roxas muttered as he held his battle stance.

"No kidding. I thought for sure we'd at least get a little break from them after leaving Twilight Town," Xion agreed.

"Less talking, more action, kids," Ventus ordered, and he punctuated his point by blasting a few Dusks away with a quickly burst of Aerora, sending his targets flying into the air via a small tornado.

The whirlwind Ven conjured did not disappear after its targets were struck though, and apparently, that was what Ven was aiming for, because he quickly jumped into the vortex, letting the winds send him rocketing into the air while his body gained a faint magenta aura. While he was airborne, Ven was quick to pull back his Keyblade, almost looking like he was charging up an attack, and he then plummeted to the ground again, striking Guardian Wind into the ground, and unleashing a powerful shockwave that blew away several Dusks at once when the blade hit. The Dusks were not the only things blown away though, but everyone else ended up blown away in a far less literal sense, as the other members of the team could only gawk in awe at Ven's very impressive attack. Even Sora, Donald, and Goofy were left speechless, because they did not remember Ven ever doing something like that on their last journey, and from the looks of things, that was not the only one, either, because a second later, Ventus had rolled into a nearby wall, and sprung off of it with the exact same glow surrounding him while he performed another new attack, and the process continued to repeat in various different ways.

They decided to file questions about Ven's new abilities for later though, as there was still a fight going on, as Xion proved when she blasted a Dusk away from Donald using a quick Blizzard. That was the others' cue to start attacking as well, as Goofy immediately started swinging his shield at anything that was not his friend while covering Donald so that the magician could cast several different spells at once. Roxas and Sora were also watching each other's back, as the two mainly stuck to slashing through enemies with their respective Keyblades, and one could easily be forgiven for thinking that it was like watching two of the same person fighting side-by-side with how well the two worked together. For the most part, they did not even need to so much as glance at one another, because they always seemed to have an instinctive sense of when to duck, dodge, or even lean in a certain way so that the other could have a clear shot at an opponent. It was not just that though, as there were also times when they were doing the same in order to help the set the other up for an attack or specific kind of strike. Roxas proved this after he slashed three Dusks into nothingness and then crossed his Keyblades together. A second later, he used the blades to boost Sora into the air, allowing him to gain a little more distance when he came down on three more Dusks from above. Sora was quick to return the favor by blasting some ice magic at the ground, tripping up a few Dusks just enough for Roxas to finish them off with a swing of each of his Keyblades.

Xion was not left out of the action though, as she was providing a great deal of support for everyone, using a quick blast of magic here and there when a Dusk drew too close to any of her friends, or even just simply slicing through them with her Keyblade. For most of the fight, though, she found herself working alongside Ventus, and she had to admit, it felt a little bit like fighting with Roxas as she did. This was not just because of the shared resemblance between the two blondes, or even just because a fragmented version of Ven's heart was inside of her. While those two facts may have had a small influence on that feeling, there was also a part of the girl that felt like she was receiving instructions on what the blonde master planned to do in her head, but only for a short time. Either way, she was not complaining, considering it helped her and Ventus to take down the last of the Dusks that had ambushed the team just now. A quick survey of the area helped to confirm that they were all clear, and with that, the team stood down and allowed their curiosity to finally come out.

"Hey Ven, how'd you do that," Sora asked.

"Do what," Ven questioned, not entirely sure what his first apprentice was referring to.

"You know, that move you used after jumping into the tornado you conjured up, and don't try to say it was a Command Style or special attack like Sonic Blade, because I'd have remembered if you ever used an ability like that before on our last journey."

"Or any ability that had you glowing like that," Goofy pointed out.

It did not take very long for the master to figure out what they were referring to, and Ventus could only smirk in response as he replied, "Just a little something I picked on while I was keeping an eye on all of you. You didn't think I spent all that time just sitting around and letting myself get rusty, did you?"

"So you've always been able to do that," Roxas asked, honestly surprised, because none of the memories he had seen from Sora ever showed even a hint of Ven being able to do that.

"No, just very recently," Ventus admitted. "I'm actually still learning how to use it. To be honest, that was the first time I've ever tried using a Flowmotion attack in an actual battle, and it was a little slow."

" _That_ was a little slow," Xion exclaimed in disbelief. "And you've only just started learning how to do stuff like that?"

"Hey, I may be a master, but that doesn't mean I've learned every ability there is when it comes to wielding a Keyblade," Ventus shrugged. "Despite what some people say, you can in fact teach an old dog a few new tricks."

"Oh, so you're an old man now, huh," Sora teased, only to duck away from a retaliatory noogie in response.

"Hey, watch it, kid! And the same goes for the rest of you," Ventus playfully warned both Sora and the others while he continued to give the former a noogie for his "old man" comment. Not that anyone seemed particularly worried, given how they were all laughing at the scene before them.

"Hey, you guys," Yuffie suddenly called out again, interrupting any further banter between the team, and they all turned to see the ninja jumping down from her previous perch until she was standing right in front of them with a wide grin. It was at that point that the team saw that Yuffie had changed up her appearance since Sora, Ven, Donald, and Goofy had last seen her, because they certainly did not remember Yuffie wearing so much dark clothing. Her shorts were a darker shade, and her shirt was now all black with white floral designs, and she had also replaced her old metal headband with a regular black one. She also now wore a white wrist band on one arm while the other arm was covered by a black, fingerless glove. Rounding out Yuffie's new look was a pair of tan, knee-length sneaker boots, and a dark grey vest that most of the team could not help but notice was very similar to Xion's. To be perfectly honest though, they all felt that this look suited Yuffie a lot more than her old one did.

"It's been way too long, Yuffie," Ventus smiled in greeting as he accepted a hug from his old pranking partner. Not that he would ever admit to that, since they both swore one another to secrecy.

"I'll say. It's been way too boring without you around, Vennie-Boy," Yuffie grinned with a light punch to the Keyblade master's arm. She then turned her grin to the rest of her old friends and said, "And I see you're still in top form."

"What'd you expect," Sora asked while thumping his chest with pride. "Looks like you're doing okay."

"Well, what did YOU expect," Yuffie replied in kind.

"Probably for Cid to come from out of nowhere roaring angrily over whatever recent prank you pulled on him," Ventus teased.

That comment had earned him a playful shove from Yuffie, even though she was able to laugh it off with everyone, and at that point, she finally took better notice of the newest members of her old friends' group. "Hey, I saw you guys in action back there, and you're really good," Yuffie complimented to the twins. Her gaze then zeroed in on Roxas when she said, "Though I gotta ask: are you related to Ven in anyway? You look like you could be his brother or something."

"Uh, no. Ven and I aren't related. I'm actually…Sora's brother," Roxas hesitantly waved off.

"Seriously," Yuffie gasped in surprise. "I didn't even know you had a brother, Sora."

"Yeah, I only recently found out too, actually," Sora admitted with a sheepish look. Hoping to change the topic before they got too far into it, Sora decided that they should give Yuffie a proper introduction to the twins and said, "But, yeah, these two are my younger siblings: Roxas and his twin sister Xion."

"Nice to meetcha," Xion happily waved while Roxas just smiled with a nod.

"Same. Love your vest by the way," Yuffie complimented.

"Thanks. A good friend picked it out for me a while back," Xion nodded in return.

"So how are the others," Donald then asked.

"Great! We're all busy doing whatever we can to help people settle back in after our world was freed, but no one's really got too much to complain about," Yuffie revealed.

"Say, Yuffie. Have seen the King and Riku? Or maybe Master Aqua," Sora then asked, thinking it could not hurt to ask. After all, their old friends from their first adventure had proven to be quite in the know on a lot of different things before.

"Nope," Yuffie easily replied, clearly not knowing how disheartening that news would be until Sora's shoulders slumped in disappointment. "But I had a feeling I'd see you guys again."

"Well I should certainly hope so, since we did sort of promise to have a reunion someday," Ventus joked, while Sora perked up a bit.

That seemed to cheer everyone up a little more, and even made Roxas and Xion smile a little, seeing as they were not too fond of seeing Sora get down in the dumps, but they were quickly confused when Sora adopted a serious expression and deepened his voice a bit, clearly trying to imitate someone he knew. "We may never meet again, but we'll never forget each other," Sora quoted.

"Is that supposed to be Leon," Yuffie easily guessed, smirking a little more all the while.

Sora's sheepish grin and the chuckles from Donald and Goofy were all the confirmation anyone needed to know she had guessed right, and even through his chuckles, Ventus had to give the kid props. "That was actually very good," the blonde told Sora before he turned to Yuffie again. "So are the others around? Someone told us that the old gang was around here somewhere."

"Yeah! Everybody's working on stuff over at Merlin's house," Yuffie confirmed. She then waved for them to follow her as she dashed off while shouting, "C'mon! We can even introduce your new teammates to them while you're there."

"Right behind you, Yuffie," Ventus called back, and like that, everyone was chasing after Yuffie. For the ninja in question, it felt a little odd having people chase after her without any intention of getting her back for some stunt she had recently pulled, but she was definitely not complaining too much. She was just glad to be reunited with such good friends.

* * *

Ventus did not actually need Yuffie to lead the way to Merlin's, because as far as he could tell, despite the changes that had taken place on the once beautiful world, the path there had not changed too much since his last, pre-Heartless Invasion visit. Even so, he still let Yuffie take point, mainly for the sake of his other friends, and so he could gaze around and better take in the surroundings. It still felt like only yesterday that this world had been such a shinning paradise with barely any disrepair to speak of, back when it was called Radiant Garden, so to see it as it was now, with so many places and buildings so heavily damaged or looking liable to fall apart at any second made Ventus feel more than a little sad for all that had happened. Part of him felt like he might have been able to do a little more to prevent this somehow, but then again, he was still very focused on his training, and then there was also the last time he had rushed off into something before he was ready, so Ven was left more than a little torn on how he should feel about seeing this place the way it was now.

His confused feelings quickly went away though when they all finally arrived at Merlin's, which was probably one of the few places on this world that had not changed a bit, and upon stepping inside, they were all smiling a little wider at the sight of who was inside, hard at work. Although two of the people inside did not appear to have changed at all, or even that much, it was still easy to see that the lone woman of the group had switched up her appearance so that she wore a new dress, or three with one worn on top of the other, along with lighter colored boots. Even so, despite whatever changes may or may not have taken place in their friends, there was still no mistaking any of these three for the four friends who had met them in their previous adventure.

"Meet the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee," Yuffie announced as she seemed to reappear from out of nowhere between the team and their old friends.

"Wow. That's a mouthful, but it is a little better than Traverse Town Defenders in its own way," Ventus commented, getting the attention of the room's three occupants, along with smiles from all of them when they laid eyes on the Keyblade master and his companions.

"We missed you," Aerith cheered as she came over to give Sora and Donald a quick hug.

"Well, if you ain't in top shape," Cid praised while giving Ven a high-five and Goofy a slap on the back in friendly welcome.

"I knew it," Leon grinned, providing the one welcome that left Sora and the others a little confused.

"Knew what," Sora could not help but ask.

"A while back, everyone suddenly remembered you three, all at the same time," Leon explained, though it was clear he was mainly directing his attention to Sora, Donald, and Goofy.

While said three were a bit surprised by this new information, Ventus was not. He remembered Naminé and DiZ mentioning that while they were repairing the damage that had been done to Sora in Castle Oblivion, there was a real chance that everyone they had met on their previous adventure would lose their memories of the three. Thankfully, Naminé had assured him that all those memories would be restored once she was finished and Sora woke up again, and to be honest, Ventus could not help but mentally sigh in relief to see that the blonde sorceress was right. That did not mean he could not sympathize with the other three's shock and likely hurt feelings upon hearing this.

"Wait! Does that mean you forgot about us," Sora demanded, his own hurt feelings showing through in his voice.

"Thanks," Donald huffed with crossed arms.

"Hey, don't be so hard on them you guys. It was most likely a side-effect of what had happened to you after you fell into that trap at Castle Oblivion," Ventus reassured the two, making a mental note to better explain all of those details later.

Ven's hunch was good, as his comment on a trap had earned the three some concerned looks from Leon and the gang. Thankfully, he was able to return those looks with one that promised he would explain later, and they all managed to get the message from him, much to his relief. At least, that was what it seemed like when Yuffie asked, "So where've you guys been all this time?"

"We were sleepin'," Goofy replied.

"Where? In cold storage," Cid asked in a quick return of his usual dry wit.

"I'm pretty sure it was a little more complicated than that," Roxas hesitantly shrugged, unintentionally drawing the Hollow Bastion locals' attention to him and Xion when he spoke up.

"Who's the miniature Ven and the runt," Cid asked, not taking any consideration into how he worded the question.

"Hey! Who're you calling a runt, old man," Xion instantly snapped, all form of politeness and manners fleeing her mind the minute she heard what Cid called her.

"Seriously? First Sora and now this girl? Why does everyone think I'm an old man," Cid groaned under his breath, not knowing that Sora, Yuffie, Ven, and even Aerith were trying to suppress their laughter at hearing him when they overheard.

Roxas was quick to put a calming hand on Xion's shoulder when he saw her preparing to march over with fists ready to swing, and then said, "Sorry about her. My sister really doesn't like it when people call her things like short."

"Still doesn't answer the original question, Ven Junior," Cid pointed out, waving the apology off like it was no big deal either way.

"They're Sora's long lost younger siblings, apparently," Yuffie revealed before anyone on the team could say anything. Not that any of them were really planning on saying something different, especially since they had already told that to both Yuffie and a few other people now, but they were hoping to try and break the news in a little more slowly. Yuffie did not really seem to notice, as she carried on with mentioning, "And get this, they can use the Keyblade just like Ven and their big brother."

"Really," Leon asked as he stepped a little closer to the two, eyeing them up very carefully, and making it clear that he was silently testing the two.

While Roxas and Xion both remained calm under Leon's gaze, with the former returning the man's look with a fierce, determined one of his own, Ventus had discreetly motioned for everyone to step back a little, knowing what was likely going to come next. After all, Leon had done something similar the first time the two of them had met. Ven's hunch proved true, because the next thing anyone knew, he had pulled out his Gunblade and swung it at Roxas. Acting on instinct, Roxas immediately slid in front of Xion, summoned both Oblivion and Oathkeeper into his hands, and locked the Gunblade in between the two Keyblades after crossing them together. Seeing Leon attack Roxas out of nowhere had stunned Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Xion, while Ventus maintained a relatively neutral expression and posture, but the others were all more focused on Roxas and what he had done to react to the sudden surprise.

"Holy…Is that runt using _two_ Keyblades, or have I finally smoked one too many cigarettes," Cid asked in awe.

"Nope, I'm seeing them too," Yuffie confirmed. "I mean, I thought I saw him using two Keyblades earlier, but I figured it was just my imagination."

"Incredible," was the only thing Aerith could whisper in response to all of this.

"Isn't it," Xion asked with excitement, all signs of her previous irritation gone in favor of boasting about her brother. Heaven knows he was not going to do so himself, so it was only natural for his little sister to do so for him. "Ventus even said that my twin brother is probably the first person in ages, if not ever, to possess a natural talent for wielding two Keyblades at once without any kind of special assistance or abilities."

The girl's statement definitely left an impression on everyone, because even Leon had to let a small smile slip onto his face before he finally stood down and gave Roxas an approving nod. "You've got good reflexes, and some impressive strength."

"Likewise," Roxas complimented in return while lowering his Keyblades.

"That from training with Ven, or something else," Leon asked.

"Uh…something else. I'd rather not talk about it too much though," Roxas muttered in hesitant reply.

That seemed to satisfy the Gunblade wielder, as he nodded and said, "All right. I'll leave it at that then." He then held out his free hand to the blonde and properly introduced himself, saying, "I'm Leon."

"Roxas," the blonde nodded in return while accepting the handshake after dismissing one the Keyblades.

"And my name's Xion," added the wielder of Two Become One. "Nice to meet you all."

"The pleasure's all ours," Aerith nodded in return before introducing herself and the gummi block engineer next to her. "I'm Aerith, and this is Cid. It's so nice to see that Sora and the others have some new members on their team."

"And even better, it looks like you're a bit more capable than Sora was when we first met him," Leon added on. While it may have been a dig against Sora, if one were to look closely enough, they could see a hint of a teasing smile gracing Leon's lips. Not that Sora seemed to notice.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean? I beat you, didn't I," Sora reminded the man, earning a new round of laughs from everyone, except Leon, who only looked away in what seemed like slight embarrassment.

When everyone had calmed down again, Sora decided to get right to the heart of the matter on why they were all here. "So listen, we're trying to find Riku, the King, and Master Aqua. Have you seen any of 'em?"

The entire Restoration Committee shook their heads in the negative, before Cid said, "We ain't seen any sign of the King or your old buddy, but it's a little hard to say if we've seen Master Aqua or not since we don't really know what she looks like."

"She's a little hard to miss," Ventus started explain, though making sure to keep his own personal bias out of his description as much as possible. "She's normally clad in an outfit that's mostly various shades of blue, with a pair of intersecting pink straps over her chest, and fastened together with a silver badge like the one I wear. She also has silver, segmented armor pieces on her upper arms and blue hair."

The Restoration Committee took a minute to think over all of that information before ultimately, they just shook their heads no once more, bringing a sad sigh from both Sora and Ventus. "Sorry," Aerith immediately apologized, hoping to cheer up her friends at least a little bit. "But let us know if there's anything we can do to help. Okay?"

"Okay," Ventus nodded in return. "Trust me, if we need anything, you guys will be some of the first people we call."

"Yeah. Thanks you guys," Sora added on with a grateful smile.

"Don't go thankin' us just yet," Cid abruptly warned as he suddenly drew closer to Sora.

"Hollow Bastion's got a problem. A big problem," Leon revealed.

"You mean besides the fact that you guys are still calling it 'Hollow Bastion' when you do know the town's real name," Ventus pointed out, and it was very clear what his actual question was when he said that.

"Hey, we would be calling it Radiant Garden, but aside from Merlin, we're the only ones who remember the town ever going by that name," Yuffie revealed. "Besides, given the state it's in, do you really think any of us _can_ call it Radiant Garden when it looks anything but radiant?"

"…Eh, good point," Ventus shrugged, because it really was. There was just no way they could call Hollow Bastion by its true name so long as these four were the only ones who remembered it, even if it was only because of him, Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Maybe after the world was restored to the way it was, they would change the name back, but for now, he would have to accept that they were just not ready for it yet.

Wanting to get back on track, Roxas looked to Leon and questioned, "So what's this problem of yours? Is it anything like…like Nobodies? And Heartless?"

"That's right," Yuffie confirmed for her friend.

"Then it sounds like you could use _our_ help just as much as we could use yours," Xion noted as Sora finally managed to step a safe distance away from Cid.

"Then let's cut to the chase," Leon decided, stepping into the middle of the group as he addressed the team directly, with the rest of the Restoration Committee gathering around the six as well. "Ven, Sora, Donald, Goofy, Roxas, and Xion. We were hoping the six of you might give us a hand around here."

The group's response was practically instant, as Sora casually thumped his chest and stated, "Like we're gonna say no?"

That earned him a short laugh from Leon before he smirked, "I forgot who I'm dealing with."

"Hey, what do you mean by that," Donald shrewdly questioned with a warning look.

"Just think of it as a sort of 'Leon compliment,'" Aerith explained.

Hearing that, Ventus could only smirk in return and had to give his own comment. "In other words, he's glad to see that we're all still so eager to help out our friends at the drop of a hat, even when we've got our own stuff going on, right?"

Leon did not confirm or deny that Ventus was right, but he did offer a small shrug and a knowing smile that the blonde took as confirmation of being very accurate in his guess, and they left it at that. At least until Xion gave her brother a knowing look and teased, "You know, I think you've given a few compliments like that as well, once or twice."

"Have not," Roxas retorted, though he did secretly wish he could have given compliments in a way that half as cool as Leon had.

Leon then moved to head out of the house, and told the team, "Follow me to the bailey. There's something you need to see."

The six adventurers all nodded in response, and were more than prepared to follow right after Leon the minute he left when a sudden burst of smoke and magic made them stop short. As it turned out, the smoke was the signaling of a new arrival, and the person turned out to be the owner of this very house, in his full, blue robed, bearded, and wand waving glory. "Oh! I thought it was you. Right on time," the wizard happily cheered.

"It's Merlin," Donald cheered as the team gathered around to say hello to the wizard who had helped Ventus with Sora's magic training a year ago.

"Good to see you," Sora nodded in greeting, receiving a happy nod in return.

"Sora, Ven, and the gang said they're gonna help out," Yuffie reported. "And not only that, but they've even got some new friends who want to lend a hand, too!"

"Splendid," Merlin happily cheered before approaching the two new faces. "Merlin the wizard, at your service. A pleasure to make the acquaintance of the newest wielders of the Keyblade."

"How'd you know we could wield the Keyblade," Xion asked in surprise.

"In the words of an old friend of mine, it's elementary, my dear. Any wizard worth their salt who has half of the experiences that I have could sense the power inside of your hearts," Merlin replied. He then pointed towards Roxas and said, "Also, your brother still has his Keyblade out. Well, one of them, anyway, and I must say, it is surprising to find someone who is able to wield two Keyblades as easily as he seems to be able to do."

At that point, Roxas glanced to his right hand and saw that he was indeed still holding Oathkeeper, and he quickly dismissed it while a sheepish smile reached both his and Xion's faces. Xion was able to shake it off though so that she could make one more introduction, and said, "It's nice to meet you, Merlin. I'm Xion, and this is Roxas."

Merlin nodded in return, smiling a little more at the girl's well-mannered and respectful tone, and said, "Well, you're in good hands if you're traveling with these four, so we'll count on all of you." He then perked up as if he just remembered something, and looked over to Aerith as he asked, "Did you give them the cards, dear?"

"Oh," Aerith gasped, clearly only just remembering this detail as well. She then reached into one of the pockets on her dress and presented four cards to Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Ventus. "Here…they're presents for you. Leon thought you might like to have them."

Each of the four took a card from the mage and took a moment to study the rather colorful designs before they each flipped them over to see their respective name written on the back, along with one other set of text. "Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee Honorary Member," Sora read aloud with a surprised gasp.

"Membership cards," Donald cheered, clearly feeling just as honored by this as his other friends seemed to be.

"Kinda cool, huh," Goofy asked in excited wonder.

"I'll say," Ventus agreed. "You guys really didn't have to do this for us."

"Yeah, but we all wanted too, and we kinda figured you were gonna help us out as much as you could when you heard about our situation here, so we figured why not make it official," Yuffie countered with a smile. "We even made one for Kairi in case she was with you guys when you finally showed up."

Aerith then turned an apologetic look to Roxas and Xion, as she said, "Sorry we don't have one for either of you yet, but we can make some cards for you as well, if you'd like them."

"Oh, you don't have to," Roxas tried to protest, but he was quickly interrupted.

"But it would be really cool if you did," Xion insisted. When Roxas gave her a small look for the interruption, she just shrugged and said, "What? Like you really don't want to have something like that as well?"

"Besides, any friends of these guys are friends of ours, especially if they're willing to help us out here," Aerith added on, and like that, the blonde boy knew he was beat, so he just sighed in resignation and accepted the offer.

"Say, if it wouldn't be too much trouble, do you guys think you could have one ready for Aqua as well," Ventus suddenly asked. When the others gave him various confused, questioning looks, the blonde master could only shrug and say, "I can't really explain it, but somehow, I feel like she's going to show up here sooner or later, and knowing Aqua, she'll want to do whatever she can to help out as well."

"Okay then, sure. We'll make sure we have one ready for her if she ever shows up," Aerith nodded in reply.

Sora could only grin a little more as his excitement grew with each passing second, and he turned to thank Leon when he finally remembered that the man in question was no longer there. "Oh no! Guys, we're supposed to be going to the bailey with Leon, remember," Sora reminded the others.

"Crap, he's right," Ven quickly recalled. "Come on, team. Let's get moving."

"Now just a moment there, you two," Merlin halted them before they could move more than two steps towards the door. "Might I inquire about the current status of your magic abilities? And while I'm thinking about, what about Roxas and Xion's magic?"

"Oh, right…" Sora muttered in slight dismay. "Well to be honest, I've kinda…regressed a little. I can still use all of my old magic, but it's a lot weaker than it used to be. I'm lucky I was able to get it back to the point where I can easily use spells like Fira, Blizzara, Thundara, Cura, and other stuff like that on the way over here."

Ventus patted Sora's shoulder reassuringly, hoping that it would serve to remind the kid that he would be back to his old self in no time if he kept practicing, before taking a chance to report on the status of both his own magic and that of Roxas and Xion's. "I've made sure to keep mine in good shape, while also practicing with a few new abilities. Xion's already learned how to use fire and ice magic, and I believe Sora's given her a pretty decent start on lightning magic as well," the Keyblade master reported. After pausing to glance to the raven haired girl and seeing her simply nod in confirmation of this, he then pressed on to say, "Roxas on the other hand is proving to be a bit of…a slow learner when it comes to magic, as he's only just recently managed to tap into his magic energies, but he hasn't started to learn any spells as of yet."

"Well, that's not too bad, but still far from perfect," Merlin noted. "Well, I suppose I can at least help give the young lad a little helping hand by granting him a shortcut on at least one or two spells so that he's not too far behind."

"Really? Thanks," Roxas grinned in response. He may not have really been planning to use magic all that much, but he did still appreciate the need for actually knowing at least one or two spells if it became necessary. After all, better to have something and not need it than to need it and not have it.

A minute later, Merlin had waved his wand over Roxas's form, and the boy felt a slight chilling feeling wash over his body, with a very hot, burning one following soon after. "There, I believe that a simple Blizzard and Fire spell should do nicely for your starters."

Roxas nodded in thanks once again, and with that, the team rushed out of Merlin's house and headed straight for the bailey, hoping they had not ended up making Leon wait for them for too long as they went. They were just lucky that the bailey is not too far from Merlin's house, so it was not long before they arrived there and met up with Leon, who was looking out a large window at something in the distance beforehand. Even as they were walking in, Sora and Ven knew that whatever it was Leon had to show them had to be important, but when they saw the extra edge of seriousness in his profile, they quickly became a little more concerned about just how it could reflect or even impact the current situation here in Hollow Bastion. Their concern only grew even more when Leon noticed their approach and turned to them with his expression hardening more than it already was, assuming such a feat was even possible.

"Look at that," Leon directed as he pointed to something out the large window, and what the team saw definitely qualified as a reason for Leon to be so on edge. There, in the middle of what looked like a massive, black sea, was a massive, menacing castle with the Heartless emblazoned on a few of the towers, while the main towers of the castle seemed to be built on top of the ruins of an old, long forgotten one. Looking closer to the black sea, Sora, Roxas, and Xion could not help but gasp in disbelief as they realized that it was not water surrounding the castle, but a massive, limitless-looking amount of Heartless. Even Ventus was a bit put off by this, having never seen so many Heartless gathered up like that before, at least not outside of a place like the End of the World, so it was no surprise that they were all more than a little concerned at how casual Leon seemed to be about the matter. It could be considered a testament to Leon's fortitude from the years he had spent in Traverse Town, or his warrior's resolve, or it could just be that he had grown a little so used to seeing so many Heartless in his home that it barely even affected him anymore. Either way did not sit too well with the team.

"We want to Hollow Bastion to what it used to be. Who knows; maybe even something better," Leon explained as he studied the Heartless ocean with a hard gaze, and the team quickly relaxed upon realizing that he was not so used to this to the point where he was numb to the fact. "There's still a lot to do, but I'm sure we can handle everything, except for that…" He then pointed to another area just a short distance from the Heartless ocean as he finished, "And that."

When the six looked to where Leon was pointing, they immediately spotted a few Dusks strolling along towards the Heartless and the castle they were surrounding. While it did confuse Sora, Donald, and Goofy a little to see the Nobodies moving along towards the Heartless like that, even after what they had learned from Yen Sid, they were not too concerned. After all, they were just another bunch of enemies that they had to stop in order to protect the worlds. Ventus, on the other hand, had a feeling that there was more to the story on that, but he did not want to say anything just yet. Not until he had some sure-fire proof that his suspicions were more than a gut feeling. Luckily, two people in this gathering were able to provide such proof.

"Scouts," Roxas muttered, with Xion muttering in agreement.

"What," Leon asked, having overheard what he said.

"Those Dusks are scouts. Probably determining just how good a hunting ground this place will be for their bosses," Roxas elaborated.

"Hunting ground," Sora questioned, not entirely sure what that was supposed to mean. At least until he remembered what the two had told them at Yen Sid's tower. "Have you remembered something about…?"

Roxas and Xion both knew that Sora left his question unfinished since Leon did not know the full truth about them, but they were still able to figure out what Sora was asking. "Only just now after seeing those Dusks," Roxas explained. "I remember how they would always send Dusks, be it basic or one of the other stronger ones to scout out a world to see if it had anything to offer for the Organization, and more often than not, it had something to do with the Heartless and how many there were, or how strong they were."

"Yeah, and afterwards, if they felt that they needed to, the Organization would assign one of its members a mission to do a more thorough investigation or for some other task in that world," Xion finished, having remembered that detail as well. "Although…how the Heartless tied into it, I still can't remember. I know that they were pretty important though."

"What're you guys talking about," Leon interrupted, reminding the group that he was still there. "Do you know what's really going on lately?"

"We've got a pretty good idea, at least on the basic level," Ventus informed Leon. "See, there's this guy, Pete, who's going around and plotting with the Heartless. We're pretty sure he's a big part of the reason why the Heartless still have something close to a sense of direction on other worlds, assuming they haven't already allied with someone else. The good news is that Pete's not too big of a threat, considering he's really just a bully who's not smart enough to tie his own shoes."

"If anything, we need to be more worried about the Nobodies and their bosses," Roxas added on.

"Yeah, those Organization XIII guys," Goofy clarified.

Leon was about to ask about just who Organization XIII was, and from the looks of things, Roxas and Xion were preparing themselves for an inevitable conversation that would expose them, when a deep voice suddenly echoed around them, saying, "You called?"

Everyone was instantly on guard as Ven and Sora led the way out the other side of the bailey, each drawing weapons as they went, but Roxas and Xion were a little slower in their charges, and from what Donald and Goofy could see, they had gone a little pale as well. Xion in particular turned almost as white as a sheet when a second voice commented, "You all seem to be doing well."

"Who's that," Sora demanded as he summoned forth his Keyblade, with the others following his lead just seconds later.

"This calls for a celebration," the first voice stated, and the next thing anyone knew, several Dusks were suddenly materializing all around the group, spinning their way through the air towards the way into town.

"Not good," Ventus muttered while Leon sent out the signal to close the gates. When he heard the gates shut with a faint clang, Ventus looked to the others and stated, "We can't risk letting these guys into the borough. Do whatever you can to stop them."

"Like you even had to ask," Xion pointed out as she charged in and took down two Dusks right away. "Just make sure you're careful around the Dusks. Their quick, but if you can be quicker and get behind them fast enough, you can easily leave them stunned."

"And what about those guys there," Goofy asked, pointing out the ones that had teardrop-shaped heads, long arms with flat hands, and a pair of small feet that seemed to just dangle uselessly from its body.

"What, the Creepers? They're easy to take down," Roxas waved off like it was no big deal. "I mean, sure they can mirror some of the Organization's weapons, but they can barely do that much more damage than a Dusk. They're only dangerous because they tend to come in packs, be it with other Creepers or other varieties of Nobodies. Hit them with a few wide-range attacks or spells, and or even just simply hit them hard and fast, and you're good."

At the sound of at least two or three more Nobodies appearing, Sora looked to see the newest arrivals looked like strange swordsmen with distinctive cylindrical heads, with six diagonal slits on the front. The grey suit that these new Nobodies wore also seemed to have bell sleeves with the Nobody emblem imprinted on them, leaving only its black, clawed hands visible. A pair of grey swords were held firmly in their hands, and if they were not in hand, they were floating very close them, either crossing behind their backs, or just resting at either side of their hips. "And what about these guys," Sora questioned.

When Roxas turned to face them, he was suddenly hit with a wave of unease that he could not quite explain or place. Something about these newest Nobodies made him a little more hesitant to attack them, despite knowing they were an enemy, but as he studied them, he could somehow feel that they were a bit reluctant to fight him as well. It just did not make sense to Roxas, and he likely would have stayed in his dazed state had he not heard Xion speak up with an explanation about them. "I think…They're called Samurais," the girl informed the group. "They tend to remain calm and poised for a while before attacking, and they don't do so spontaneously. They move slow but their movements are also really graceful, and while they aren't the strongest defenders, they are definitely some of the most powerful attackers. After all, those swords aren't there just for show."

"Got it," Ventus said. "Xion, you help Donald and Goofy keep them from getting too far into the bailey. Sora, Roxas, Leon, and I will stay close to the gate and keep any that slip by you from doing any or too much damage to it."

"Right," the others all nodded, and they all quickly set to work.

Donald and Goofy were no strangers to working alongside one another, but they were actually a little surprised at how easy it was to work with Xion. The girl was able to blast and slash away enemies while providing them with backup or support whenever they needed it so well, that they almost felt like she had been fighting with them for years. Then again, the girl was made using some of Sora's memories, so maybe they figured that had a little something to do with it. Either way they were not complaining, and even less so when she saved each of them from getting slashed in half by a Samurai or stomped on by a Creeper. Meanwhile, Xion was easily dancing around each enemy that tried to cross her, dodging attacks and then retaliating with a spell or a strike at every turn. It would have been like watching a beautiful performance had it not been for how awkward her movements sometimes appeared to be. Not that it was too noticeable most of the time, but one could still see that she was tripping over her feet here and there as she moved, and sometimes, she would even fall back in a way that made it seem like she was doing something that was unnatural for her. Luckily Donald and Goofy were able to cover her well enough to the point where it did not matter in the slightest, but Xion was still concerned about why she was having such troubles. Considering how much this had happened to her now, she probably would have been crazy to not be a little worried, but she elected to talk with Ventus or one of the others about it when they were not fighting to keep the Nobodies from getting into a town full of innocent people.

Meanwhile, the boys were all doing everything they could to keep the gates intact, and they were certainly proving to be a near unbeatable defense to break through. For the most part, Leon and Ventus kept the Nobodies at bay with their preferred long-range attacks, but when they did need to get in close, they made sure to show that they were not someone you should cross. Sora was taking a similar approach as well, by switching between both magic and regular attacks at varying intervals, and seeing how few Nobodies got past him because of this, he could not help but silently thank Ventus for convincing him to practice his magic skills a little before they had arrived at Hollow Bastion. Still, that did not mean that Sora was just sticking to just those abilities, because eventually, he did come around to unleashing an old power of his building up to the point of being ready to burst forth, and he could only grin as he channeled that power out around him and his Keyblade in order to unleash it in full.

"Command Style: Destiny Blaze," Sora shouted, and like that, the aura of his Unique Tier One Command Style had encompassed his body, and he was soon racing across the battlefield while slashing away at any Nobody that crossed him, both with his regular Keyblade and the Ghost-Keyblade that had appeared in his off-hand when he began to attack. The Dusks and Creepers were no longer able to keep up with him at all, and even the Samurais that had gotten past the other three were finding themselves being quickly cut down before they even knew what had happened because Sora's enhanced powers. All the while, Sora could only grin happily at being able to use his Unique Command Style in battle again, because to him, it felt like he was reunited with an old friend after being apart for ages.

As Sora's blazing rush of attacks continued, Roxas found he could not help but stare in awe. Sure, he had seen Ventus use one of his Command Styles before, and later on, Sora's Shotlocks, and yes, he did remember seeing one or two moments of Sora using it in the memory visions he and Xion had during their summer vacation, but actually seeing Sora use this power in person was a much different experience, and one that was no less spectacular than the last time it was used. His moment of awe had almost cost him though, as a few Dusks and Samurais had slipped past him to the gate while he was watching Sora, but Roxas quickly caught onto them and felled each of the Nobodies in a matter of seconds with one or both of his Keyblades. He then turned to find another Samurai was about to approach him, but just when he was about to attack, the sword-wielding Nobody paused for a minute and then turned to advance on Leon, who was already preparing to fire a blast from his Gunblade. If Roxas had been caught off guard by Sora's use of his Unique Command Style, then he was definitely thrown for a loop at seeing that. What's more, as he looked over the rest of the battlefield, he noticed that nearly all of the Samurais seemed to be avoiding him as much as possible, as they mainly went after the others, or just changed course after realizing that he was in their path. It was more than a little weird for Roxas, but he was not complaining too much. From what he could remember of his time with the Organization, the Samurais were indeed just as powerful as Xion had said, and they were very excellent swordsmen as well. To be honest, a part of Roxas was actually glad that he did not have to fight them, but for some reason, he could not help but feel that his relief was born from something other than not having to face a strong opponent unless it was necessary.

A few minutes later, the four Keybearers finally destroyed the last Dusks, and all seemed calm for the moment, so they quickly led the way back outside, hoping to catch a glimpse of the person who had just set the lower-tier Nobodies loose on them. Unfortunately, they could not see the ones responsible anywhere, but they could definitely hear them clear as day, as the voices from before were soon echoing out from somewhere close by once again. "The Keyblade…a truly marvelous weapon," the first voice from before commented. "Were they only in more…capable hands."

"In some cases more than others," the second voice seemed to sneer, and his statement was soon followed by a chorus of mocking, yet empty laughter.

"Show yourselves," Sora demanded, now a little ticked off at how these people were trying to make a mockery of him and his friends.

At that point, the team's attention was directed up to the top of a nearby, high wall, where a figure appeared from a dark portal. The most eye-catching thing about him though, aside from the fact that his face could not be seen, was the fact he was wearing a very familiar black coat. Upon seeing this man, Ventus and Sora were both overcome with a sense of familiarity, because whoever this person was, he was giving off the same vibe as the man they had faced on this very world after they had defeated the Behemoth Heartless that was guarding the Keyhole. They were not the only ones though, as Roxas and Xion both froze a little as they picked up on a sense of familiarity too, one that only grew stronger as the hooded man raised his arms up in a silent signal, and the twins did not need to guess who that signal was for. Their hunch was soon proven right, as five more black portals appeared around the man, and deposited another cloaked figure each, until a total of six men in matching black coats stood on the high wall, looking down at the team below.

"Organization XIII," Goofy cried out in worry, while Roxas and Xion instinctively backed away a little at seeing their old comrades suddenly appear before them.

When Sora suddenly turned back to the twins, he did not need to do much guessing to realize that they were afraid of what these guys would do to the two, so he did not hesitate to give them a quick smile and some comforting words. "Don't worry. They're not going to get anywhere near you two if we can help it," Sora reassured them. When he saw their faces regain a little color, he then turned back to the Organization with a glare as he declared, "If anything, we can settle this right here and now!"

"Easy Sora," Ventus cautioned. "Let's not do something rash. For all we know, taking action right now may be just what they want. I don't know about you guys, but I'm not planning on being a pawn in their little chess game."

"What a shame," the cloaked man at the front of the cloaked group sighed, his voice being a perfect match to the first one that had spoken earlier, and almost sounding as if he were disappointed, but they could all tell that it was all a façade. "And here I thought we could be friends."

Another round of laughter erupted from the members of the Organization as they all began to vanish into the portals they had come from, and seeing their enemies disappear like that prompted the team into moving once again, this time hoping to catch at least one member before they had all gotten away. Their rush was cut short when one of the Organization's members suddenly appeared in their path, barring the way forward and allowing all of the others to make a clean getaway, much to the team's irritation. Of course, it was only natural that Donald was the first to make his frustrations known as he glared heatedly at the Nobody in front of them, and demanded, "What's the big idea?!"

"Oopsy-daisy," the man sarcastically shrugged, and now it was Ventus who had to pause for a minute, as he could have sworn that he had heard that voice somewhere before.

Sora on the other hand had no problem maintaining his own composure, as he angrily shouted, "Move!"

"Now do you think that's polite, shutting me down like that," the man questioned.

"He said to beat it," Roxas shouted, raising Oblivion at the cloaked man.

At hearing Roxas's voice, the man in question had turned to him and then chuckled, "Kiddo! Gotta admit, it's actually kinda good to see you again. You're looking well, and it looks like the same could be said for Poppet too."

"Huh? Poppet," Roxas questioned, now more than a little confused, especially given how the guy was trying to come off as being friendly towards him. Last he had checked, Axel was the only friend he had in the Organization besides Xion, and Naminé had said as much as far he could remember, but then again, it was not like he really remembered everything about that much about his time in the Organization at the moment.

"I'm talking about Xion, kiddo," the man explained. He then let out a dry laugh as he added, "Anyone else here get déjà vu just now? Or here's a better question: can Nobodies have déjà vu? I kinda feel like I just did, since I'm sure we had this conversation before."

"Are you serious right now? You do remember who we are, right," Xion pointed out, thinking that calling this guy out on his weirdness might throw him off a bit.

Xion's tactic did not work as she had hoped, because the man just shrugged and said, "Hey, you two may be traitors, but that doesn't mean I can't reminisce about the good ol' days with you. Who knows, maybe your even doing something to help us out right now without even realizing it, Poppet. Wouldn't be the first time."

"Enough already! They're not doing anything to help you, intentionally or otherwise! Now get out of our way," Ventus snarled with a glare, having finally snapped out of his moment of silent contemplation.

"As if," the man scoffed. "You can talk all you want, but that won't change a thing."

"Then we're gonna MAKE you move," Donald determined, raising his staff for another attack while the others all prepared to enter another fight as well.

"See, that would work, if I were just any old dude," the man countered almost indifferently. His tone then turned a little more boastful as he finished, "'Cept I'm not. I'm with the Organization. Nothing 'any old' about me."

"Ha! Tough talk for someone who stood on the sidelines while his Nobody flunkeys did all the fighting," Sora barked in retort.

"Nothing new there. Assuming he's who I think he is, he does tend to do that a lot. Not as much as another guy in the group, but still just enough to be irritating," Roxas reasoned, though he did have to wonder how he suddenly started getting a suspicion about who this guy was when he had not even seen his face.

"Oh, dear, I think you got the wrong impression," the man muttered in mock despair.

"Oh, cry us a river," Xion snapped.

"As if! Why don't I remind you and tiger there how tough the crowd you're dealing with really is," the man offered, suddenly sounding a little more menacing. When Sora, Roxas, and Xion all just hardened their glares at him a little more in response though, all sense of menacing was dropped as he burst out laughing before he turned to the bearded blonde. "Well, look at that! They're giving me that same exact look you did all those years ago, and it looks like yours hasn't changed either despite how much time has passed. You've taught 'em well…Popsicle."

Hearing that comment made Ventus pause once again, but this time, his shock was due to the fact that he finally figured out why this guy sounded so familiar. "You…" Ventus gasped. "You're the one who attacked me and Aqua that time in the Keyblade Graveyard!"

"You remember me? Aw, I'm touched," the man mockingly cheered, and that only seemed to rile Ventus up a little more than he already had been. Seeing Ventus getting so angry and hearing that the blonde apparently recognized this person based on his voice alone also served as incentive for the others to brace themselves for anything, because from the sound of things, it was clear that the two were not friends. Not that they were likely to assume they were considering that Ven said this guy had attacked him and his friends once, but all the same, hearing such a fact was more than enough of a reason to prepare themselves for anything. What they did not expect was for the man to wave as he opened up another dark portal and say, "Be good boys and girls now!"

"Wait," Donald shouted, charging forward in an attempt to stop the Nobody from escaping like the rest of his comrades. All he really ended up accomplishing was a dive to land flat on his face right when the portal had disappeared with its passenger. "Nuts! He got away!"

"Let it go, Donald," Ventus advised as he and the others dismissed their weapons. That did not stop him from scowling a little though as he muttered, "Although I was hoping I'd never have the displeasure of running into him again."

"Did you really know that guy, Ven," Sora asked, honestly curious.

"Assuming I'm right, yeah, I did once. Or to be more accurate, I met him when he was still human," Ventus clarified. "He was an ally of Xehanort's that used to be one of the castle guards here on this world. I never ran into him on any of my visits here with Mickey though so I had always figured he hadn't managed to get away from the Keyblade Graveyard after that last battle my friends and I had with Xehanort. Either that or he just wasn't ever around anymore because he got a new job. Yet another mistake on my part."

"Hey, don't blame yourself, Ven. It's not like you could've known that the guy would become part of the Organization," Goofy reassured the Keyblade master.

"I know, but still…"

Hoping to change the subject before his master got too far down that road of self-blame, Sora looked to his sibling disciples and asked, "You know, he seemed to be acting pretty friendly to you guys, so do you think he was a friend you had in the Organization?"

"No, I doubt it," Roxas shook his head in denial. "I mean, I'm sure we had a few friends, but the only real friend I can remember us having was Axel, and I'm not even sure if he's still around."

"Same here and the vibes I got from him definitely did not make me think he and I were actually friends," Xion revealed. She then scowled a bit as she said, "If anything, the sound of his voice made me want to just hit him with everything I had."

"Well, did he at least stir up a few memories for you guys that could help us for when we run across him again," Sora prompted. He did not really want to stir up anything bad, but if there was a chance that it could help later, they did need to know as soon as possible.

"Not really," Roxas shrugged. He then paused to think for a moment before clarifying, "All I've got are some vague recollections of a guy with a similar voice hanging back a lot during fights to blast a bunch of stuff, and acting like he was in the know on more things than anyone else, including the guys who were in a position of high authority."

"Same here. Well, that and hearing someone giving out a bunch of stupid nicknames and saying 'As if!' almost all the time," Xion then said with an apologetic shrug.

"Well…at least it's something, right," Sora grinned in an attempt to cheer them up a little. It did not quite work the way he was hoping though, as they were soon reminded that someone else was there.

"Do one of you guys plan on telling me why those guys seemed to act like they knew your newest friends, and in a way that suggested they were more than passing acquaintances," Leon cut in, his tone suspicious and his gaze silently demanding answers.

Seeing that look from Leon instantly made Roxas and Xion cringe a little in both fright and concern, right to the point where they could barely say too much, let alone look at him. When one of them finally did get enough courage to speak, it was barely more than a small bit of muttering as Roxas kept his gaze locked on the ground. "It's complicated," the blonde had almost stuttered.

"Really, because it doesn't seem like that to me," Leon argued, crossing his arms in a silent message of how he was not going to accept any half-baked answers like that. "In fact, from where I'm standing and what I heard, it sounded like you and your sister were with this Organization."

"We're not with them," Xion practically snapped, her eyes practically blazing with indignant offense. That fire quickly died though while her voice dropped back down to a normal speaking level a minute later. "At least…not anymore."

"So you were members," Leon questioned, having caught what the girl had said. "And what about that stuff you said about being Sora's siblings? Was that even true?"

"Well…" was the most that either of the twins could manage, and Sora was no better as he was soon finding the ground beneath his feet very interesting.

"That's enough, Leon," Ventus cut in, unable to take too much more of his apprentices being interrogated like this. "Yes, Roxas and Xion were part of the Organization, but they also made the choice to leave on their own. They're with us now, and they don't plan on going back."

"How can you be so sure," Leon prompted. Clearly he was not too willing to take anything at face value here.

Ventus could not really blame Leon for being cautious like this. The man had already lost his home once to the Heartless, and it was pretty clear that the Organization was now just as much of a threat to that same home as the dwellers of darkness had once been, maybe even more of one. Still, in Ven's book, it was no excuse for Leon to just go jumping down the kids' throats, even if he did not know the full story behind why Roxas and Xion had left. That was about to change though. "Would you want to go back to a group that had tried to destroy you," Ventus questioned.

That broke Leon's guarded and suspicious visage, and in its place was one of what could most closely be described as horror. His gaze slowly turned to Roxas and Xion again, silently asking them if what Ven said was true, and when Xion just looked down in sorrow, he knew that it was. To be honest, he was a little surprised that Roxas even bothered to answer the silent question aloud. "We were tricked into joining the Organization because we didn't know anything about who we were, why we even existed, or really anything else besides the most basic of human functions, and they needed someone who could use the Keyblade for their goals. What that is, we can't remember now, because our memories of our time with them were erased in order to protect us from the Organization, but we do know that part of the reason why we ran away was because we started asking questions that they didn't want us to, and when we learned at least a few of the answers, they felt that we had learned too much. We wouldn't even be here now if it wasn't for Ven."

"…I see," Leon managed to whisper. He was at a loss on anything else to say, but he did still have one question that he wanted to know the answer to. "And what about that claim to being Sora's siblings?"

"Well, we are his sibling disciples, if that counts," Xion nervously shrugged. When no one else said anything, she went on to add, "And it's also because…Roxas and I wouldn't even exist without Sora, because…"

"Because I'm Sora's Nobody, and Xion was a Replica created from Sora's memories," Roxas finished when he realized that his sister could not bring herself to say it.

Once again, Leon had fallen silent, unable to really say anything after this revelation, but just when he was opening his mouth to do so, Sora stepped in and beat him to the punch. "None of that matters now, though," the spiky haired teen insisted. "They're not like other Nobodies, and they're not even Nobodies anymore. Roxas and Xion both have hearts and minds of their own, and they trusted their hearts enough to make the choice to join us on our new journey, and to become Ven's newest apprentices. They may not be my brother and sister in the typical sense, but to me, they are where it counts, and that's enough."

Hearing the passion in Sora's voice had surprised Roxas and Xion a little more than everyone else, but it also made them smile a little bit too. They were glad that Sora was already so eagerly thinking them like that, now more than they had before, and seeing him stand up for them, and to an old friend at that, made them feel like they really were his siblings in the conventional sense. Ventus was of a similar mindset, but at the same time, he was also reminded of the bond he shared with his friend Terra as he listened to Sora. He knew that the older brunette would have stood up for him in the same way if he had to, just like he once had for Terra every time he encountered someone that would say his big brother figure was going down a dark path eleven years ago. Of course, Sora did not really care too much about what the others thought. All that mattered to him was that he was getting his point across to Leon, and from the look on the Gunblade wielder's face, it seemed like he had.

"Well, I guess I can take that," Leon had sighed with the barest hint of a smile. He then looked to Roxas and Xion again and said, "Sorry about how I was acting towards you two, but after everything that happened to me and my friends, I can't help but get suspicious if there's a chance someone or something might be a threat to my home."

"Hey, we get it. Besides, we're the ones who weren't entirely honest about who we were, even though you and the others are good friends of Sora and Ven's," Xion tried to reassure him.

"But do you think you could keep that stuff about us quiet for now? I don't think we're ready for everyone to know about all of that just yet," Roxas requested.

"Don't worry. Your secret's safe with me," Leon promised. He then smiled as he stated, "Besides, you guys are part of much better groups now, and both are made up of people that will gladly watch your backs no matter what."

"Yeah, our little band of adventurers and Leon's gang will always be there if you need us," Goofy declared.

"Even if Sora is a little slow on a few things," Donald added in, taking a chance to rib his friend a little bit.

Sora just rolled his eyes a bit before pulling out the membership card that Aerith had given him to help make his point. "You may not have one of these yet, but you're still just much honorary members of the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee as…Huh?"

Sora had a good reason to stop short and gasp in surprise, because just when he was about to finish his sentence, his membership card suddenly began to glow brightly, and from the look on Leon's face, they could tell that it was not supposed to be doing that. A minute later, the Keyblades of each wielder present had popped into their hands, and were all glowing with a faint light at the tips. Seeing this instantly made the team think of what Master Yen Sid had said, and Goofy could not help but ask, "Gawrsh, ya think…?"

"Only one way to find out," Ventus answered as he held his Keyblade at the ready, with Sora and Xion doing the same a little after. Roxas was a bit slower because of a simple problem that some would probably consider a little silly.

"Uh…which one do I use," Roxas wondered as he looked between Oathkeeper and Oblivion.

"Just use both if you can't decide," Sora offered, and right when Roxas was holding both of his Keyblades against one another, strange energy seemed to surge around them.

When the energy surge finally passed, the four noticed from the corners of their eyes that their surroundings hand changed into a massive void that was made up of a cloudy, yet still bright sky, and the only other object there besides them was Sora's glowing membership card. That same card then suddenly shot a beam of light high into the air, and when the beam seemed to hit some kind of barrier, it immediately dispersed into the shape of a keyhole that seemed to lead to a passageway of some kind. Without even thinking about it, the four leapt back a short distance, aimed their Keyblades at the Keyhole that had appeared, and shot a beam of light straight into the Keyhole, with Roxas's appearing slightly bigger than the other three's due to the fact he was using both of his Keyblades. When the beams connected, a faint ringing sound reached their ears, beneath which they could have sworn that they head a lock being opened, just as their surroundings had returned to normal.

"Was that actually…" Roxas started to say, hardly believing his eyes in regards to what had just happened, despite being part of the experience himself.

"I think it was," Xion answered.

"Ohh…Now I get it," Sora whispered in realization. "That must've been one of the gates that Yen Sid talked about."

"Which means we've now got a new path to travel in our adventures," Ventus finished for the kid, smiling all the while as if to provide final confirmation on what they were all thinking.

"Oh boy," Donald cheered in excitement, while Goofy could only grin widely.

Ventus then turned back to Leon and gave a quick, apologetic bow as he said, "Sorry to battle and run, Leon, but duty calls, and other worlds with it."

Leon just nodded in understanding, having already known that the gang could not hang around forever, no matter how much they wanted to stay and help, but he also knew that they would be back the minute that he and his friends called or needed them. Still, he could not help but impart one last warning. "I know I probably don't need to tell you this since you've got some former members in your team now, but Organization XIII…They look tough. Be careful out there."

"I think that goes without saying, but then again, we do have a tendency to run into trouble. Some of us more than others," Ventus quipped with a pointed look towards Sora, Donald, and Goofy.

"You're just not gonna let the whole Castle Oblivion trap thing go, are you," Sora sighed in resignation.

"Not for a long time, kid. Or at the very least, not until I'm sure you've learned your lesson about charging off without thinking," Ventus smirked in reply.

The six then nodded to Leon before Sora gave a quick wave to say goodbye for now, while Roxas leveled Leon a quick challenging look. "Hey, next time we get the chance, what do you say to a little one-on-one," the blonde requested.

Leon smirked in reply before he said, "I suppose I could try and find the time. Who knows, it could be fun testing you."

Xion could only roll her eyes at her brother and Leon. One minute the two were wary of each other, and then the next they were acting like good buddies/rivals? Really, it was like watching how her brother acted around Hayner all over again. Knowing this, Xion could only draw up one conclusion. "I'll never understand boys," she muttered.

That was the last comment any of them made before Ventus remotely activated the _Kingdom_ 's teleporter, saying that they did not have any time to waste by just walking back to the port, and a few minutes later, one would have been able to look up into the sky and see their gummi ship blasting off through the world barrier, and onto the next stop in their adventure.

* * *

While the team of adventurers was setting out to continue their journey, the members of Organization XIII had chosen this time to gather together in their regular meeting area, known as the Round Room or Where Nothing Gathers, feeling that they needed to discuss a few matters after their recent encounter with the team. "Do my eyes deceive me," questioned Number III. "Does that boy really hold the power of the Keyblade, and have we really allowed two traitors to go off on their own without any repercussions? We should have destroyed them right where they stood."

"Hey, come on. Don't be like that," Number II chuckled, still sounding rather elated over his own personal talk with the Keybearers and their allies. "After all, they'd be of more use to us if we let them stick around right? Besides, with ol' Ventus watching out for 'em, they sure to be straight as an arrow, even if the kid already is all on his own. Those two are pure of heart, unlike all of us here."

"They had better be, or else they're as worthless as that broken puppet," Number VII cautioned, with a hint of a snarl at the end of his sentence when he came to the topic of Xion.

"Still can't believe that I'd been talking to a puppet all that time," Number IX muttered to himself at the memory of Xion. "I mean, she was so cool and fun to hang out with, I'd have never even guessed."

"I do truly hope they're all enjoying themselves on their adventure," Number X commented as he played with his magic cards. "Numbers XIII and XIV have certainly earned a little enjoyment after all the hard work they did for us. Though I do wonder if they would like a hand to determine their fates."

"Hey, as long as it works in our favor," Number IX then shrugged, now fully joining the conversation. "I mean, why didn't we just let Roxas and Xion do what they wanted for a while to begin with? They were just going to keep helping us anyway, and from the look of things, they don't even remember that they are helping us without meaning to. We can just jump in at any time if needed."

"Those are bold words coming from you. Are you saying you'll volunteer to take care of it if things go wrong? Huh," Number II questioned, his tone suggesting that he already knew the answer.

"What?! Me? No, you have the wrong guy. I'm not comfortable with that," Number IX immediately denied, all sense of his previous bravado now gone. "Besides, I haven't forgotten what Axel said he would do to us if we did anything to try and hurt those two."

"The words of another traitor should hardly matter now, and even without that, why act as though you have a conscience," Number III questioned. "When was the last time any one of us felt anything?"

"Truer words were never spoken," Number X agreed. "Well, I suppose the fun will have to wait."

There was a moment of silence among the group before Number VII asked, "Do you know what happens to those who lose their true purpose? Inevitably, they destroy themselves. I'm actually a little surprised that the puppet hasn't already. After all, instead of keeping Sora asleep and draining both him and Roxas of their powers, she's now helping them like she actually can exist as her own person."

"Sheesh, make it a little more obvious, why don't you," Number IX muttered, with nearly everyone else nodding in agreement with him.

Number VII was about to give a retort when their leader decided it was time to intervene. "Gentlemen," he called out in a quiet, even voice that still seemed to echo loudly through the room. "The heroes of the Keyblade have embarked on a new adventure. Make sure it is one they will remember. As for our traitors, do not act against Axel just yet. There may still be a chance that he could lead to something we need to recover."

"And Number XIII and the puppet," Number VII asked, clearly wanting to hear about what they should with those two more than anything else.

"Leave them be for now. Any who wield the Keyblade can be of benefit to our goals, but if they do step out of line…remind them of the power that they gave up when they left us. There's no point in ending their existence…for now," Number I replied. "Now go."

With that last command, the members of Organization XIII vanished from their meeting room to commence with their respective assignments, leaving a foreboding feeling in their wake that was only felt by an unknown observer that had somehow managed to slip in unnoticed. When he saw that everyone was taking their leave, Axel made sure to time the opening of his own Corridor of Darkness so that it would open and close at the same time as the others, and quickly slipped out, holding his breath the entire time as if it would help keep anyone from realizing he had slipped back into the stronghold. When he reappeared on the outskirts of Agrabah, Axel finally released the breath he was holding and turned to see Naminé sitting by the window, busily sketching an image of the city.

"I can't believe I let you talk me into that," the Flurry of Dancing Flames griped, letting the girl know he was back. "My job is supposed to be keeping you safe now, not risking my neck by sneaking back into my former boss's place so we could gather intel or whatever."

"I know, but if there's a chance it might help Roxas and the others, we have to do something," Naminé insisted, not once looking up from her sketchpad.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm just saying, and it's not that we've really learned too much, even from the last trip, aside from stuff we already know," Axel sighed.

Naminé would have to give him that, but she did not say anything as she finally put down her pencil and stood up again, letting Axel know she was ready to leave now. With a quick nod, Axel opened another Corridor of Darkness for them, and they quickly slipped away to another world, knowing that they could not stay in one place for too long, while hoping that they could get away without the Organization or anyone else ever knowing they were there.

* * *

 **Naminé's Diary Entry 2:**

 **I can't believe it! He's here! He's actually here! The boy I've seen in my dreams so many times since I was created! I'm finally going to meet Sora. I should probably be feeling a lot happier about this, considering all that I've learned about him, but to be honest, I can't help but wish that he had never come. Yes, I want to get out of this place and away from Marluxia and the others (Larxene more than anyone else, the lousy witch), but not like this. I'm being forced to change Sora's memories one piece at a time, making him forget about his previous adventures, and placing myself into pictures that I'm not supposed to be in. What's worse is that they want me to slowly work things around to the point where I've even replaced Kairi in his mind. Excuse me a minute…Sorry, it's just that, every time I think of that particular detail, I can't help but feel a little sick. I mean, I'm interfering with such a strong, loving bond, and Sora does love Kairi more than anything. I don't want to get in between that, but if I don't, there's no telling what Marluxia and the others will do to me. I mean, I'm not too worried about Axel; he seems to be the only one who doesn't really torture me like the others do, but considering that he's just one person out of an entire castle of people that want to hurt me in any way they can, I can't help but be afraid.**

 **Why couldn't Sora have come in with Master Ventus? Why did he have to be asleep when Marluxia had "extended an invitation" to Sora? Maybe if Ventus was here, he could have realized the truth about what was going on and found a way to stop things before it was too late. As it stands, I'm not sure if I can even do something now. That's not the worst part, though. Vexen found a way to create a working Replica, one that looks and acts just like Sora's friend Riku, and they've forced me to modify his memories so that he thinks he's the real Riku, and that he's doing so many horrible things to Sora in an effort to protect me. Isn't tampering with the memories in Sora's heart enough? Why did I have to hurt someone else like that too? I don't care what the others say. Doing all of these horrible things, against my will or otherwise…it just hurts so much. Please, Sora. You need to wake up and realize that what you're chasing isn't real, otherwise, you'll never be the real you again. What's worse, I'm not sure just how long I can bear with all of this before it finally gets to me.**

* * *

 _ **AN: [seen standing next to an Inflatable Xehanort Punching Dummy] Well, well, well. You think you're so big and tough. "Oh look at me. I'm Master Xehanort, the greatest villain in all of darkness, and I'm gonna get me the power of the x-blade." Oh no you ain't! POW! [punches the dummy] Ooh! Right the scruffy beard! Ha, ha! Aw, what's the matter, Sidious Wannabe? Did mean old Voldemort take back his little scheme of putting pieces of himself inside of others from you? Say! I gotta message for you from Sephiroth. It goes like this: "This is for stealing my shtick, yo!" KAPOW! [punches dummy again] Yeah, that better have hurt! Be glad I just knocked you on your butt, Gramps! Cause Sephiroth wanted me to slice you up into little tiny bits like he would've with his sword! But why do that, when I can just keep doing this! WA-POW! [Hits the dummy again, this time with a spin kick] Yeah, that's right! Who's**_ **your _Keyblade master!_**

 ** _Roxas: Uh..._**

 ** _AN: EEP! [looks around] Oh, is the chapter over already?_**

 ** _Ventus: ...Yeah._**

 ** _AN: Wow...Hehe...Awkward._**

 ** _Aqua: How long have you had that thing? [indicates the punching dummy]_**

 _ **AN: Oh you know, not too long. [Quickly tries shoving the inflatable dummy away with minimal success] Just...possibly, maybe since I saw a particular scene of Kingdom Hearts 3.**_

 _ **Terra: This scene wouldn't happen to be one that involves Sora and a certain red haired girl, would it?**_

 _ **AN:...It might.**_

 _ **Riku: I think the better question is whether or not he's worried that Xehanort will find out he has it and that he's been using it to get out his frustrations about that particular detail of the game's ending like this.**_

 _ **AN: Of course I'm not worried! Reasons being 1, if he tries to kill me, send me into darkness, or seriously injure me in any way, I cannot continue to work on this story. And 2...I think he's going to be a little preoccupied for a while.**_

 _ **Riku: And what about Sora and Kairi? Don't you think they'd want a shot?**_

 _ **AN: No, and believe me, I offered. They're much more satisfied wailing on the real thing.**_

 _ **Ventus: [exchanges worried looks with the others for a few minutes] lyoko, what did you do?**_

 _ **AN: Oh, just held down Xehanort long enough for Sora and Kairi to lock him in a room where they could beat the ever loving crap out of him for what he did to them in Kingdom Hearts 3. [points to an area off to the side, and the camera then pans to a door with a Do-Not-Disturb Sign on it, behind which, one can hear loud cries of pain and suffering, while Sora and Kairi are roaring in rage]**_

 _ **Xehanort: [from the other side of the door] No, please! It's not like I planned to-AAAAAAHHHHH!**_

 _ **Sora: THIS IS FOR PRACTICALLY KILLING MY GIRLFRIEND IN FRONT OF ME AND MAKING ME END UP SEPARATED FROM HER AND THE OTHERS AGAIN YOU OLD FART!**_

 _ **Kairi: NOT TO MENTION TURNING ME INTO A DAMN DAMSEL IN DISTRESS AGAIN! AND AFTER I MADE IT CLEAR THAT I WAS GOING TO KICK YOUR BUTT!**_

 _ **Xehanort: No! No, no, nonononono! That doesn't bend that way! THAT DOESN'T BEND THAT WAY! [hollers in pain]**_

 _ **AN: Hehehehe. So satisfying. Ahem, well while those two are getting even...I mean...No, that's exactly what I meant. They're getting even with Xehanort. Anyways, let's move on to more pressing matters, such as the details about this chapter. Yes, Sora's now introducing Roxas and Xion as his siblings, and it's a little surprising to them, but they're keeping the two's origins a secret for now, even from good friends like the Radiant Garden, sorry the Hollow Bastion gang. Not that it did much good with Leon by the end. To be honest, I feel like this chapter ended up only being long because of how much dialogue was in it, because, let's face it, the first trip to Hollow Bastion was incredibly short. But oh well. At least we got to see a few more Nobodies show up, and see that Roxas and Xion are starting to remember more and more about their former business associates with every passing moment. Plus, Sora's well on his way to get back to his previous strength level, and the other two are steadily catching up as well. Originally, I was going to have at least Xion use Valor Form in that big fight at the bailey, but it just didn't seem to fit in anywhere as I was writing. Maybe I'll find a way to work it in later on and go back to update this chapter when I do.**_

 _ **Xion: Not to mention we got to meet Donald's nephews and Uncle Scrooge while we were there.**_

 _ **Roxas: And Xion had a total fan-girl freak out.**_

 _ **Xion: Did not.**_

 _ **Roxas: Did too.**_

 _ **Xion: Did not.**_

 _ **Roxas: Did too.**_

 _ **Xion: Did not!**_

 _ **AN: Ahem, if I may be allowed to break this tie...She totally did. Well what did you think was going to happen when that meeting took place? For her to faint or something? Get real. This ain't a certain scene from A Spider's Focus. If you've read the story, you know what I'm talking about. It's the one that actually makes Lightning Farron laugh, and still does every time she thinks about it.**_

 _ **[Lightning Farron's laughter is heard from somewhere in the distance at that very moment]**_

 _ **See what I mean? Also, we got a little exposition on how the Organization is reacting to seeing Roxas and Xion working alongside Sora and the gang now. If you know who's who in terms of the Organization's numbers, then I'm sure you can figure out why they were reacting the way they were, but if not, just say so, and I'll break it down for you come next chapter. I'm gonna have that out as soon as possible. I promise. Because, guess what: as of right now, nearly all of my focus is going into this series, and the Kingdom Marvels series.**_

 _ **Riku: Kingdom Marvels?**_

 _ **AN: That's what I've decided to call the series that Hearts of Avengers is part of. Don't worry, I'll try to update one or two of the other stories when I can, but considering how motivated I am to prove that I'll be making my version of the Kingdom Hearts 3 story different, you can probably expect a lot of updates to this series in the near future for a long while to come.**_

 _ **Finally, the latest entry of Journals/Diary...Yeah, not much to say there. It was really just**_ ** _Naminé's thoughts as Sora was making his way through Castle Oblivion. I did say that most of hers would be covering the events of said story, so I guess you probably shouldn't expect too much of anything from there just yet. Though I will say that I'm doing my utmost best to make sure that I'm getting across her thoughts and feelings as that happened. Not that she really needed much help in the canon story, but all the same...well, you get my point._**

 ** _Aqua: Don't you think we should answer some of the reviews from the last chapter, now? Or at least do something about...well, that before it gets ugly. [indicates the room in which Sora and Kairi are still beating up Xehanort]_**

 ** _AN: We could do something about that, but...Does anyone really want to?_**

 ** _Everyone else: [looks between each other for a minute] Nah._**

 ** _AN: Thought so. As for reviews...I would, but...How're we doing on time for today's chapter?_**

 ** _Terra: Umm...[looks to the clock] Oh crap! Looks like we're out of it!_**

 ** _AN: What?! Aw man! Well, this is what happens when you spend too much time in rehearsal work. Sorry guys, but I promise, next chapter, we'll answer all the questions you posted in your previous reviews, and if there are any new questions added in this chapter's reviews, we'll answer those too, assuming the questions were not already answered by the events of the main story by then. All right, let's hurry along and wrap this up before we end up getting kicked off the air for going over the time limit. Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _The team's off to another world, and barely more than a few minutes after arriving, they come across an old friend from their last adventure. Not only that, but they're roped into helping him and the young woman he's guardian for fool her country's army into thinking she's a boy. Needless to say, hearing that women aren't allowed to join the army gets to Xion more than anyone else, and the young girl is not about to let such an insult slide. Can our heroes really help bring honor to this young woman's family, and save her country from both its vile enemy and the Heartless? And just what is Xion going to do just to prove that she can stand tall and proud in the face of battle just any other man? These answers and a particular mystery regarding Xion will be unveiled, next time._**

 ** _Please read and review, and see ya real soon!_**

 ** _Now, if you'll all excuse me. [Grabs Xehanort punching dummy] What? Like you guys don't wish you had one of these after seeing all of the main story of Kingdom Hearts 3. Besides, unlike Sora and Kairi, I can't actually beat up Xehanort. Though I do wish they weren't doing it so loudly!_**

 ** _Sora: Sorry lyokoMARVELanime! We'll try and tone it down a little._**

 ** _Xehanort: No, no, NONONONONONONONO-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! THAT WAS RIGHT IN MY KEYCHAINS!_**

 ** _Kairi: Oh, did that hurt? Well guess what: IT'LL PALE IN COMPARISON TO WHAT WE'RE GONNA DO NEXT YOU LITTLE..._**

 ** _AN: Hey, hey! We're still recording some of this! Keep it PG13 at most!_**

 ** _Aqua:...Like the author said, see you all next time._**


	10. China's Traditions Are Challenged

**_AN: [sitting in his chair with a focused, thinking pose] Hmmm...I just can't figure it out. I mean, it is a_ really _good question, but just what would the answer be..._**

 ** _Ven: [walks into the room] Hey lyoko. Are Sora and Kairi still...Uh, what's with you?_**

 ** _AN: Hm? Oh, hi Ven. I was just thinking about something that I believe would be a very important question. Not like review answer important question, but still important all the same._**

 ** _Ven: You know we really oughta do some of those today, but I still feel like I need to ask what this question you're wondering about is. Wait, don't tell me. You're trying to think of how many ways you can torture Xehanort once Sora and Kairi are done with him, right?_**

 ** _AN: No!...Okay, yeah, but just a little...Okay, a lot, but that's not the only thing I'm wondering about._**

 ** _Xion: Well, what else is there?_**

 ** _Ven: What the-?! Xion, where did you come from?!_**

 ** _Xion: Me? I've been here for hours. I was working with Roxas,_ _Naminé_ _, and Riku for some of the scenes we all have in this series' version of KH3 upstairs. Now don't change the subject, please. What were you thinking about lyoko?_**

 ** _AN: Okay, it's actually very simple, but still very puzzling...Who would win...in a face-off...between...Kim Possible and Carmen Sandiego?_**

 ** _Xion &Ven: [both giving him deadpan looks] Really?_**

 ** _AN: What? It's a good question! I mean, think about it for a minute. They're both incredibly talented, skilled, and trained young women; they can pull off nearly impossible feats without any kind of special powers; they both have a lot of fancy gadgets; they both have some form of support team watching their backs; and if they ever do get into some kind of jam, they always find a way to get out of it a short time later. So, you have to wonder, if these two ever met each other, be it in any form or fashion, who would win between the two of them, in a fight, or some other similar manner?_**

 ** _Ven: You know, now that he's said all of that, I'm actually kind of curious myself. Hey, readers, if you guys are reading all of this, how about you give us your input when you review today's chapter? Let's see what you guys think._**

 ** _Xion: Well, now you guys have got me curious, so guys, please cast your unofficial vote. But before that, be sure to read today's chapter and finally get some answers to previous review questions, both from the last chapter, and the one before that, assuming those haven't already been answered._**

 ** _AN: Right, let's begin with some reviews that were posted by chapter 8's posting...Hm, just gotta pick one, and there are a lot of reviews that we need to answer this time...Hm..._**

 ** _I know! We'll start with "Anonymaton"'s chptr 8 review. Nah, man that doesn't seem too silly. If you think you can work with it, then go for it._**

 ** _Next to "Dragon Rider 66", to answer your question about Roxas in relation to the whole matter of Xion being Sora and Kairi's kid..._**

 ** _Xion: Why did we have to bring that up again now?_**

 ** _AN: Because he was asking about it. Anyways, by the logic that Goofy offered, that would also make Roxas and_ _Naminé_ _Sora and Kairi's kids, more so in the case of_** _ **Naminé**_ ** _than Roxas, while Roxas, who looks the way he does because of Sora having Ven's heart inside of him...Yeah, please don't make me finish that sentence. Anyway, that would mean that Roxas is basically in love with his sister. Or half-sister, whichever you prefer to think. Oh, as for the question you posed about Sora's Limit Form being a unique Drive Form, I actually really hadn't thought about it too much, but now...I'm kinda considering a few ideas, so you'll have to wait and see on that._**

 ** _As for the new gummi ship's name, as I stated in Chptr 8's ending note, the naming thing was partially inspired by Star Trek, namely in how every starship _Enterprise _that followed Kirk's ship from the original series, had a letter added to the end of the registration number. Examples:_ Enterprise-A _,_ Enterprise-B _,_ Enterprise-C _, and of course, Captain Picard's ships,_ Enterprise-D _and_ Enterprise-E _. I will admit that calling it the_ Kingdom II _probably would have worked just as well, but to be honest...eh, it just felt kinda cheap and/or obvious to me. So, I followed my inner Trekie instinct and went with_ Kingdom A _. The A doesn't really stand for anything other than to serve as a way of designating this as a different ship from the last one._**

 ** _Rolling on to another chptr 8 review, "Ronin Warriors Fanatic", the idea of having Anakin and Ven spar is actually kind of interesting, so I may try to work that in somewhere if it's possible._**

 ** _To "Monkey D. Conan"'s chptr 8 review, there is a good chance that Sora might have such a clash with Ventus for those reasons, so be ready for that. And as for your new questions (or new as far as that review is concerned), Ven's going to be rocking that wild beard for quite a bit, actually, but yes, it will be a little after Aqua returns to the action that he finally tames it a little more. Also, Aqua and Kairi will have already gone to Yen Sid by the time the team has met up with them, so they'll be joining the team the minute they all meet up._**

 ** _Xion: Oh! Not to interrupt, but to the "Guest" reviewer of 1/18/2019, I just want to say that yes, we have seen that episode of Death Battle, and can I just say...called it! You don't bet against Scrooge McDuck._**

 ** _AN: Yes, thank you for that. You are really eager to get a voice in today._**

 ** _Ven: I think it's partially because she gets a good deal of character development in this world that you're having us visit starting with this chapter._**

 ** _AN: Yeah, I had a hunch that was the case. Anyway, to "Sly Bahamut", yeah, there is a chance that the "Xion is Sora and Kairi's daughter" thing may become something of a running gag, but at the moment, I haven't really found too many places to really work it in just yet. Mainly because the gang's mainly introducing Roxas and Xion as Sora's long lost siblings and all. One of which may very likely be the "mother's" reaction. Oh, and as for the Code Lyoko connection to this story, I've got a strong plan in place for that already, but you don't have to worry too much, because Aelita is involved. And that's all I can say about it at this time._**

 ** _A quick shot-out to "Anonimosx" for that detail that was mentioned regarding Kairi and_** _ **Naminé**_ ** _, because you definitely make a good point. If Roxas could use the Keyblade because he's Sora's Nobody, who's to say_ _Naminé_ _can't do the same due to being Kairi's Nobody. I will definitely be trying to work that into this series. Maybe not in this story, but certainly later on down the line._**

 ** _To everyone else who asked about Roxas's connection to the Samurai Nobodies and what not...well, let's just say that you got a small glimpse of what may happen there in the previous chapter. Also, Ven and Aqua will eventually meet the Lingering Will at some point, and their reactions will be something to behold._**

 ** _Let's move it on to the reviews for last chapter now..._**

 ** _Xion: Uh, maybe we should hold off on that until the ending note. This one's getting kinda long with all the stuff you said for chptr 8's reviews._**

 ** _Ven: You're just saying that because you want everyone to see how awesome you were in this chapter, aren't you?_**

 ** _Xion: A little bit, yeah, but this starting note is getting long._**

 ** _AN: Okay. Fine, fine. I'll leave the last chapter's review answers for the ending note this time. Just don't let me forget._**

 ** _Xion: We won't. Well, I won't at least._**

 ** _Ven: Hey, what do I look like? Sora or Roxas? Uh, don't answer that._**

 ** _AN: Wasn't planning to. I was just hoping you would realize how stupid that question was all on your own. Now let's move on to the story and see if someone will make a man out of our adventurers!...Heh, see what I did there?..._**

 ** _I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story._**

* * *

 **Chapter X**

You would think that setting out for another world would have left the team feeling really ecstatic, to say the least, but that was not the case this time around. Shortly after passing through the world barrier of Hollow Bastion, the team had actually received some very important news from Chip and Dale, and it had left most of them more than a little worried. "Something's happened to Twilight Town," Chip had started out.

"It's gone," Dale simplified, not beating around the bush or using any form of tact whatsoever. "One minute it was there, and then the next, it's just a strange, black blob on the world map."

"But…But how's that possible," Roxas asked, obviously worried for the world he had once called home, even if it was only in a virtual simulation, and he was not alone in that worry, given how upset Xion looked.

"It shouldn't be," Ventus replied. "No world can just disappear. Not unless its heart was consumed by the Heartless or a similar event has occurred, and there haven't been any Heartless in Twilight Town for a little over half a year. That's probably the one thing we can actually thank the Organization for, but mostly you two."

Hearing Ventus tell them that did cheer up Roxas and Xion a little, but it did not give them any answers on what had happened to what had been their home for as long as they could remember, at least in the memories that Naminé had given them. Sora was also really worried, both for his sibling disciples' sake and for that of their friends from that world, so it came as little surprise that he was the one to repeat the question. "So what could have happened? Is this something that the Organization could've done?"

"Maybe…" Ventus mused to himself, a hand to his chin in thought. "Chip, Dale, what exactly happened? Was there any kind of weird reading coming from the town before it seemed to vanish?"

"Not that we can see," Chip reported. "One minute everything was just fine, and then the next, Twilight Town's just gone."

"It's still technically on the map, but it's not registering as a world that you can reach or even travel too. If we didn't know better, I'd say that someone has somehow closed it off to anyone from the outside," Dale added on.

"Are you sure you didn't do something you shouldn't have on the computer," Donald questioned.

"Yes! We're not amateurs," both chipmunks snapped, clearly offended by that question.

"Wait, wasn't Master Yen Sid's tower really close to Twilight Town too? What if this is something that he's doing in order to keep the town safe," Goofy pointed out.

"We thought the same thing, and we've been trying to reach him since, but he's not responding to any of our calls," Dale admitted.

"And there hasn't been any sign of the tower having moved to a new location like it tends to do every now and then, either," Chip finished.

Ventus pondered over all of this information in his head for a minute before he finally said, "Keep looking into it, and let us know at the first sign of anything changing. We'll look into it when that happens, if we're able to at the time. For now, we should focus on what's happening on the other worlds." He then turned to the three younger Keybearers and added, "And we should also focus on getting you three trained up as well."

That was about an hour ago now, and the _Kingdom_ was still in transit to the next closest world to Hollow Bastion, with the four Keyblade wielders all down in the simulator room doing various exercises to further their training. At the moment, Xion was practicing her combat abilities, trying to figure out why she kept feeling so awkward whenever she fought. Meanwhile, Sora was a short distance away from her, practicing his magic and skills with the Command Styles so that he could finally say he was fully back in the groove of things with those skills, or at least the latter, if nothing else. The main reason why he was not too far from Xion was because Ven wanted Sora to keep an eye on Xion's progress, at least in terms of whatever magic or attacks she was using, in the hopes that Sora could assist the girl in getting a better grasp on her powers. After all, Sora had already helped Xion learn how to use lightning magic, so who was to say that he could not help her learn a few other techniques as well.

As for Roxas and Ventus, the two were actually having a little sparring match at the moment, locking blades with one another in the little battle arena that was further away from the other two, so as not to distract Sora and Xion from what they were doing. Given how often and how loudly their blades would clash against each other, this may have been a well-founded concern, but to the two blondes, it may as well have barely even been mild static. Throughout the entire spar, Roxas displayed a very great level of skill in his dual wielding abilities, almost to the point where Ventus was having trouble keeping up at times, in fact. Then again, Ventus was doing his best to hold back his full power, because this was just training after all, but he was soon having to up his game just a little in order to keep Roxas on his toes. Of course, this spar was also to help Ven teach Roxas an important lesson that the young man needed to learn, and he had no problem teaching it time and again. Almost every time that their blades locked, Roxas had pressed down using both his blades and left himself open for when Ventus blasted him back with some form of magic using his free hand. Usually it was just a quick blast of wind magic, but there were times when Ven mixed it up and shot off a small Blizzard or two to help drive home the point he was hoping to make here. After seeing that Roxas was still getting up and trying to rush him over and over again, Ven decided that it was time to end things, and quickly sped into action, starting with making Roxas lose one of his Keyblades. The minute that Oblivion had left his hand, Roxas had gone on the defensive, all the while trying to recover the blade, either by summoning it back or rushing over to where it landed, while it was still materialized, but Ven made it a point to not allow Roxas the chance to do either. Finally, Roxas's guard was completely broken, and he had no choice but to concede defeat after getting pinned down with the tip of Guardian Wind being held at his neck.

"You did well," Ventus complimented as he helped his younger doppelganger up. "Really well, to be honest, and you definitely show great skill in being able to dual wield, even so early into your training."

"Maybe its muscle memory or instinct," Roxas shrugged, feeling a bit modest all of a sudden, even if he was a little peeved over his defeat. "I mean, I can kinda remember using two Keyblades before, at least when me and Xion were making that last escape, but for the most part, I was just going off of whatever felt natural, letting the Keyblades guide me."

"And that's good. The Keyblade, or in your case Key _blades_ can often serve as a powerful guide in battle, and for directing its wielder to a threat or danger, but there are still areas where you should improve," Ventus reassured him while also making it a point to keep his tone as neutral and strict as he could. "You need to not rely on using both blades so much, otherwise, you'll be unprepared for a moment when you can only use one, like you were just now. More to the point, you should at least try to practice using your magic in battle a little more. Since you can use two Keyblades, you have two different tools for focusing and directing your magic. Granted, that's always true, given that some people can cast magic through their hands, like I did during our spar, but having something like the Keyblade to direct it definitely takes the pressure off by quite a bit. Since you can use two Keyblades, you should try to learn how to attack with one and cast with the other. It could be something that would save you in the near future."

Roxas nodded along to what Ven was saying for a little bit, before he lowered his head in thought. He knew that Ven was right, but for some reason, he did not really see himself using magic all that much. Granted, he knew that it was useful to know, but it just seemed like something that he was not likely to use, since he liked to be a more up-front approach to things. Plus, there was one other point he was concerned about. "Are you sure it's smart for me to try and only use one of my Keyblades or the other?"

"What do you mean," Ven asked, not understanding what his apprentice was asking.

"It's just…you said that the ability naturally to dual wield Keyblades comes from having a perfect balance between the light and darkness in one's heart, and I can't help but worry that using one Keyblade over the other may cause problems with that, at least for me," Roxas tried to explain, hoping that he was at least making sense to Ventus when he spoke. "You see, it might sound silly, but I always feel like my Keyblades represent the light and darkness in my heart, so if I were to use one or the other, then I'm afraid that I might throw that balance off."

"Hmm, I see," Ventus mused, understanding what Roxas was getting at entirely. After all, he was not wrong in believing that about his Keyblades. These were Keyblades that were born from the bonds that Sora shared with Kairi and Riku, after all, so it was only natural that they would each hold a certain tie to the light and darkness in some small way. With that mind, Ven was quick to come up with a solution to the problem. "In that case, I would try to figure out how long you can comfortably use one blade on its own before switching to the other. That way, you won't have to worry so much about the balance in your heart being disturbed too much. It may not seem necessary for you to know how to only use one blade, but the chances of there being a time when you can't use two are very high all the same. Like the old saying goes, better to have it and not need it…"

"Yeah, I see your point," Roxas admitted. "So, I guess I should start working on figuring out how to measure my balance in relation to how long I use just one of my Keyblades over the other, huh?"

"If you want, but first, how about we see how Sora and Xion are coming along," Ventus suggested, and with that, the two blondes left their battleground to see how the other two apprentices were doing.

When they reached Sora and Xion's location, it did not take long to figure out that the girl was still struggling, given that her groans of frustration could likely have been heard for miles, but Sora seemed to be pretty happy with his own progress, so Ven figured he would check on him first. Not that the decision was all that hard to make, given that Sora was the first to notice their approach and quickly waved them over, likely so he could show off a little bit. "Hey you guys," Sora greeted once the blondes had reached him. "Already done with the sparring session?"

"For now, yeah," Ventus replied. "So, how well are you doing, Sora?"

"Well, I'm still not quite back to full strength with my magic, but I can use all of the level two spells that I learned last year again without too much trouble. Plus, all of my Shotlocks are definitely good to go, too," Sora reported.

"Not surprising. You've always had a bit of a natural talent for Shotlocks," Ventus pointed out with a small chuckle, one that Roxas did not hesitate to share in.

Sora's response was to simply grin sheepishly, having forgotten about that for a moment himself, but he soon shook it off so he could continue. "I've mostly been practicing with the Command Styles, and I've gotten it down to where I can use them all without too much trouble again, including my Unique Tier One Style. Just watch."

The two blondes were then treated to a show of Sora displaying his skills in the Command Styles, and were both impressed to see Sora cycle through each of the four Command Styles that he could use like he was performing a simple dance. He started off with a blazing display of Firestorm, then moved on to the chilling force of Diamond Dust, from which he jumped into the force of Thunderbolt, and he easily finished with unleashing the full power of Destiny Blaze, all of which he used the finishers for to make his showcase even more spectacular. The last one had earned him a round of applause from his audience of two, and they were all sure that if Xion were paying attention, she would have been clapping as well. Hearing that applause, Sora could not help but bow in thanks, his grin not fading even a little all the while.

"Very impressive work, Sora," Ventus approved while rubbing his first apprentice on the head in a similar manner to how Terra used to do the same with him. "You've definitely gotten a lot better, and it seems that you're finally close to shaking off the last of those side-effects from your year-long nap. From the look of things, you just might be ready for the next step in Command Style training."

"Really?! Well then what're we waiting for," Sora excitedly cheered, eager to start learning more new stuff.

"Hold up there, kid. There's just one thing I want you to try and learn before we start that," Ventus determined, pulling a solid stop on Sora's excitement. "I want you try and practice with summoning up the power of your Unique Command Style on your own, without the need to use any specific magic or attacks."

"Huh? But I thought you said that only Keyblade wielders with a large magic reserves and years of training could do that," Sora pointed out, having remembered that particular lesson from a year ago. It was a little hard to forget, seeing as it was the one that had immediately followed after their first visit to Olympus Coliseum and came just before their crash-landing in Deep Jungle.

"Normally, this is true, but after seeing you suddenly dual wield Keyblades in our final battle against Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, I get the feeling that your magic reserves may be a little bit bigger than we give them credit for," Ventus offered up. "I'll admit that this is just a theory, and you don't necessarily need to be able to do this in order to move on to the next stage, but given how difficult our new journey is expected to be, it couldn't hurt to at least try and see if you can do it without exhausting yourself too much."

Sora nodded in understanding of this, and then readied his Keyblade before asking, "So, how I do this?"

Ventus nodded in approval of Sora's eagerness, and gave him some simple instructions that he had been given when he started learning this skill. "For one thing, you must be able to attain a calm, relaxed state of mind; let nothing worry or concern you. Once that's done, think of the energy that builds up inside you which signals you are close to being able to activate your Unique Command Style, imagine the rush that same ability gives you when its unleashed, and then merge those two feelings together as you bring them to the surface, adding a little extra push with your magic in order to do so as needed. If you can accomplish this, you should be able to summon the power of your Unique Command Style on command, without needing to use any other abilities." He then paused to let that sink in before turning away at the sound of another annoyed groan from Xion, and knew that he should move on to his third apprentice very soon. "Why don't you and Roxas work together on this? Having someone to spar with may help you in better getting a feel for summoning up this strength in the heat of battle, and in the process, you may even be able to help Roxas figure out the Command Styles for himself."

The two boys both nodded in response, and with that, Ventus dismissed himself from them, already hearing Roxas questioning his senior apprentice on how to use the Command Styles before the two could start going at it in a spar to help Sora with his newest goal. In truth, Ven was a little unsure if Roxas would be able to use the Command Styles, given his natural dual-wielding ability, but that did not mean he could at least attempt to help the kid to learn them. After all, you never knew if something was possible until you made the effort to make it happen. For now though, he needed to worry about whatever Xion was having trouble with, and it looked like he needed to worry quite a bit, as Xion's latest attempts at dealing with her strange discomfort in battle had ended with her tossing Two Become One to the ground with a loud, frustrated groan.

"Whoa, easy there, champ. I know you're frustrated, but don't take it out on your Keyblade. It didn't do anything to you," Ventus lightly joked in an attempt to break the tension. He had to pause and think afterwards though, before he amended, "Well, it did choose you to be its wielder and take on everything that goes with that, but aside from that…"

"I know, I know," Xion groaned tiredly, mentally apologizing to Two Become One as it disappeared in the usual show of lights. "I just…I don't what it is that I'm doing wrong. Every move I make should be flowing cleanly and just feel natural, but the more I do each of these drills, the more it feels like something isn't right, or that I'm just tripping over myself."

Ventus hummed in thought after the girl had finished her brief moment of venting, and then gestured for her to stand up again as he requested, "How about you try one of the more simple drills again, and this time let me watch to see if I can figure out what it is that's throwing you off. Maybe having an extra pair of eyes will help make things clearer a little more quickly."

She had to take a deep breath to help better calm her nerves before doing anything else, but Xion did still nod in agreement with Ven and moved back to where she had started so she could run the drill once more. The minute she was ready, Ven gave her a simple word to begin, and the girl went at it right away. Everything seemed fine from where Ven was standing, but after a moment or two, he could see Xion tripping up slightly as she flowed from one move to another, clearly trying to make a last minute correction to her movements before she made a full-fledged mistake. It did not slow her down for too long though, as she was soon dancing across the training ground again with the same flow as before, only to misstep once more and nearly fall over. That time though, Ven noticed something that she had not, mainly due to her frustration at making another mistake, and he made it a point to watch a little more carefully to see if the same thing repeated later on. A few moments later, he saw it again, and that was when things started to click for him.

"That's enough, Xion," Ventus called out, making it clear she could stop now, and the girl simply dismissed her Keyblade with a frustrated sigh as she plopped down on the simulated grass. Ven figured it would be good to wait a moment before he said anything so that Xion could get her breath, and maybe get any mental rants out of the way if she needed to, and after a few minutes of watching her and listening to the two boys sparring a bit in the distance, Ven finally approached and opened the discussion on what he suspected with a simple question. "Xion, which hand do you write with?"

"Huh? What's that have to do with anything," the girl questioned, not knowing where that had come from all of a sudden.

"Just humor me," Ventus requested, which also served to tell Xion that he had a theory that may or may not be true depending on her answer.

Xion shrugged afterwards and prepared to answer when a thought suddenly occurred to her. "I'm…I'm not sure," she admitted. "I don't really remember doing all that much writing back in the Virtual Twilight Town, but…I always figured I was right-handed like Roxas and Sora."

Ventus nodded in reply to that before he looked up to the simulated sky, and said, "Computer, generate a writing desk with pen and paper." A second later, the requested items appeared beside the two, and the blonde was then guiding Xion over to the desk. Once he had sat her down, he gave Xion another surprising request. "Write something for me. Doesn't matter what, but what I want you to do is just write however feels most natural to you."

Now Xion was really confused as to what was going on, but she figured she might as well roll with it since Ven did not seem like he was going to give her a straight answer just yet. With that, she picked up the pen and started to think of something to write. She did not have to think too long, as the pen was soon scratching out words onto the paper a few seconds later, but for some reason, she felt just as awkward writing out the words as she had whenever she was in a fight. More than that, for some reason, her words came out all strange and so illegible that you could barely tell what each letter was. Just when she was about to toss the pen aside out of further anger, thinking that this was just another sign of how she was not an actual person, but something that someone created, Ventus cut those thoughts out with a few simple sentences that gave her a sudden bout of inspiration.

"Remember, don't get frustrated. You just need to do what feels natural," the blonde master instructed. "After all…you do have more than one hand."

The minute she heard that last part, Xion glanced at her left hand in thought for a few seconds, and then, without even thinking about it, she tossed the pen over to said hand and started again. This time, everything came out so perfectly and beautifully that you would think that Xion had turned writing mere words into an incredible art form. Ven was especially impressed, because he did even remember Aqua's handwriting ever looking that beautiful, which was saying something since she had the best handwriting out of their entire trio, a fact that was further enforced when she once showed him some of the papers she had written magic notes on before they had met. Even as a child, Aqua had lovely handwriting, almost to the point where it did not even look like a child's handwriting, but at that moment, Xion almost seemed like she was able to write using perfect calligraphy. Ven was so surprised that he almost did not notice when Xion finally put the pen down and handed the paper to him to show she was finished.

Ven accepted the page almost on instinct, making a note to read it later, and then smirked at Xion and said, "Well, I'd say that confirms it."

"Confirms what," Xion asked, a little peeved that Ven did not stop to read what she wrote right away. She figured that he seemed especially interested a minute ago, so why would he not read it now?

"The reason why you're so off balance in all of your fights," Ventus clarified. "Xion…you're left-handed."

That surprised Xion a bit. Sure, she had just written something out using her left hand, and did a lot better than she had with her right, but she did not think that it meant anything special. "Are you sure," Xion asked. "I mean, that doesn't make sense since I was created to be a Replica of Sora…Or Roxas…You know what I mean."

"Yeah, I do, and I also recall telling you that you had built your own identity ages ago. Nothing said that stopped at just you having your own face and thoughts," Ventus pointed out. "I can't believe I didn't figure it out sooner. The signs were all there for a while now. That time in the alley when you summoned the Keyblade using your left hand, how you fought Axel soon after without transferring it to your other hand right away…It was staring us in the face the whole time and we never even noticed it."

"So…is it bad that I'm left-handed," Xion asked, obviously worried about what this meant for her.

"No, no, it's not bad, Xion. Not at all. We just need to get you used to summoning your Keyblade into your left hand while trying to make sure that you remember to use a different orientation than the rest of us when we're running through drills and sword training. If anything, this makes you especially unique, and that's something to be proud of," Ventus promised.

Xion smiled a little after hearing that, and without another word, she prepared to run the drills again, this time summoning Two Become One into her left hand. Since they now knew that was her dominant hand, Ven was not surprised how quickly she had managed to adjust to summoning the Keyblade into it, but he was definitely pleased to see how quickly she was adjusting her drills and practice routines, along with how she was no longer tripping over herself or looking awkward as she ran those drills. When she started to mix things up by also adding in a few magic blasts from her right hand, Ven knew that Xion had definitely found her groove, and could not help but applaud for her when she finished the run. What he did not expect was that he would not be the only one clapping when the girl finished.

Upon hearing additional sets of hands clapping for her along with Ven's, Xion spun around to see Roxas and Sora both grinning widely as they cheered for her success. "Nice run, Sis," Roxas called out.

"Yeah, you were awesome," Sora agreed.

Xion could not help it. Her face had quickly gained a small tint of red at the praise she was receiving, but all the same, her smile was as wide as could be. It really meant a lot to hear everyone praising her for her success, even if it did not seem like something one should be throwing a party over to her, but for some reason, this just seemed a lot more special to her than it probably would have to the average person. Xion could not help but wonder why that was, but when she came up blank, she figured it might have had something to do with her time in the Organization. After all, the memories she did recover did give off the impression that a lot of the other members did not think too much of her, so it made sense that she would feel a great deal of relief at hearing praise from her new teammates.

Ventus was about to say that they should carry on with another round of training when Donald's voice sounded over the ship's intercom. _"Attention all hands. We're approaching our destination. Repeat, all hands, we're approaching our destination. Come on up to the cockpit and see for yourselves."_

That alone was signal enough for the four to know that their training session was over for now, and Ventus immediately ended the program before they exited simulator bay and rushed up to the cockpit. As they were going though, Sora suddenly got a nostalgic smile on his face that made the others curious, prompting him to explain, "I just got a bit of déjà vu. This is almost exactly like what happened after me, Ven, Donald, and Goofy all met up a year ago and we reached our first world after Traverse Town."

"Oh yeah. You're right," Ven chuckled in realization. "Wow, I'd almost forgotten about that. I can't believe you remembered."

"How could I not? It was my very first ride on a gummi ship, and the first time I had ever traveled between worlds. Sure, it wasn't all that exciting since I spent most of it meditating, but still…" Sora pointed out, earning him a playful shove from Ventus that was coupled with smiles from everyone else in the group.

Upon reaching the bridge, the team could all see the world just outside the ship's viewport, and the first thing they noticed was the large palace that seemed to rest on top of the world, almost dominating the upper half with its size. The second thing was the dragon symbol in the middle of the world, with strange writing on either side of the symbol that none of them could really see at their current distance, and they doubted that they would be able to make too much sense of it even they could see it better, because it was obviously in another language. There was not much else to say about the sight before them, but it did not need to be said as Ventus quickly recognized this world.

"Hey, I think this is the Land of Dragons," Ventus exclaimed in excitement.

"Have you been here before, Ven," Sora asked.

"Well, no. I only know about it by reputation and what I've read," Ventus clarified. "But I do remember Master Eraqus once telling me, Terra, and Aqua that this was one of his favorite worlds, aside from the Land of Departure. He'd tell us all kinds of stories about how the land was protected by guardian dragon spirits that came in various sizes and powers, and that the people here held a great deal of honor, often to the point where their actions were dictated by that honor."

"Wow, that sounds so cool," Roxas gasped in awe. "Well, what're we waiting for? Let's get down there and have a look around."

The team all nodded in agreement, and with that, Donald brought the ship into a stable orbit around the world, and the team quickly scrambled to the teleporter, eager to transport down and see what awaited them in this world. Although, some of them were a little bit nervous about what would happen if they did meet one of these dragon spirits that Ven mentioned, and whether or not they would be friendly or hostile towards them.

* * *

"I think I'm starting to get used to that," Xion noted, referring to the gummi teleporter when the team materialized on the world's surface. This was only her second time using said method of boarding to from the ship, and she was really hoping to forget about her first trip very quickly. It was both embarrassing and left her with an unpleasant feeling in her stomach that she was not sure would go away any time soon.

"Speak for yourself," Roxas groaned as he rubbed his own stomach, feeling like his lunch was about to come back up for another visit.

"Don't worry. You'll get used to it," Ven reassured his fellow blonde. "It just takes a little longer for some folks than others. Trust me; it actually took me several months before I got used to that thing."

Roxas smiled in appreciation of Ven's words, but his stomach did a few unpleasant flips when Sora added his own two cents. "Just be glad that you're first landing via the teleporter put you on solid ground. First time I used it, we were being dropped down in midair, albeit slowly."

"Sora, the mere thought of that…Not helping," Roxas cautioned, now feeling it was even more likely he was going to throw up. Of course, that passed when he picked up on an odd sent that made him stop and start sniffing the air. "Hey, do you guys smell smoke?"

Everyone immediately stopped and started sniffing the air as well, and they all immediately picked up on the scent of smoke that Roxas was referring to. Moving closer to the bamboo trees around them, Goofy carefully parted the trees in an attempt to locate the source, and quickly gasped, "Hey fellers! Look!"

Turning to see through the trees as Goofy was, the team were all greeted by the sight of a nearby village, or what was left of it, because it was clear as day that it was recently burned down, much to their horror. Upon taking a second look, they could also see a figure standing amidst the ruins with a bird on his shoulder, and it did not appear he was looking for survivors. If anything, the man seemed to be relishing in the destruction from what they could tell. Of course, the village was too far away for them to be able to smell the smoke so clearly, and from what Ven could tell, the smoke Roxas's had smelled was coming from a fire that was still burning, so he immediately waved for them to move forward in an attempt to find the source. They still made a note to keep an eye out for the guy in the village later on, just to be safe, because they had a hunch they would be seeing him again sooner or later.

As they made their way through the bamboo trees, the team started to pick up on the sound of some voices close by, and they quickly slowed their pace a bit more in an attempt to make their approach a little quieter. When they came around the corner, they immediately ducked out of sight again upon seeing that there were people present, or rather a person in green and black armor and another, shadowy figure, and it was clear that the person in question was more than a little scared. Looking to the shadowy figure towering over the individual that they had spotted, and seeing its menacing stance and red eyes, it was no surprise that the team was all starting to draw up one conclusion very quickly, because it did not look like the shadowy figure was too friendly.

"A Heartless," Donald whispered in question.

"Well, it definitely isn't a Nobody, and it doesn't look too friendly either," Roxas reasoned out.

"Let's get the jump on 'im," Xion suggested, and both of the other two seemed to agree with him.

"I don't know guys," Ventus whispered, hoping to reason with the three before they charged.

"Gawrsh, maybe we better look before we leap," Goofy agreed, but both his and Ven's words fell on deaf ears, because Xion, Roxas, and Donald were already moving in with battle cries being yelled.

Hearing the three charging towards them, the figure that was standing before the shadowy creature let out a very girlish yelp of fright, and ducked down in fear. At the same time, the shadowy figure seemed to quickly shrink before something small and red jumped out from behind the rocks and ducked underneath the armored person with a frightened cry of its own. When he heard the second cry, Sora instantly recognized the voice, and did not hesitate to jump in between the two groups with his arms spread out in an attempt to keep them separated. "Whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Wait a minute," Sora shouted, making his friends screech to a halt. He then turned towards the hunched over figure as he asked, "Ven, is that Mushu?"

"Wait, Mushu? As in the last summon you got on our last adventure, Mushu," Ventus questioned, just to make sure he heard right.

The blonde's answer came not from Sora, but from the dragon in question as he sprang out from his hiding place and began trying to come off as threatening without ever looking at the people he was talking to. "That's right. I know you heard of me! I'm little, lethal, and legendary! Now ya'll scram before I get my dragon dander up!"

"Hey, Mushu! We missed you," Sora waved in greeting.

"Yeah, well you better HOPE I miss YOU, or else you're…you're…" Mushu started threaten in retort until the words finally registered in his mind and made him turn to see who he was talking to at last. The minute he did, his face brightened up into a wide, bright smile, filled with pointed teeth as he cheered, "Sora! Ven! And…other two guys!"

"Hey," Donald growled while Goofy just crossed his arms. They were not really too upset, seeing as they never really met Mushu in person up until now, but it was still a bit hurtful to be referred to that way.

"Do you know them," the armored person questioned, their voice giving them away as a woman, but it seemed like only Xion and Ventus had taken notice of that, as the others were too focused on Mushu to pay attention.

"Know them," Mushu echoed in question as he slithered down to the ground and walked over to Sora and the gang. "Man, we used to kick all kinds of bad guy butt together! Yeah, you know, I helped these guys out of a lot of tight spots. 'Cause I'm a mighty dragon! Right?"

As he finished explaining to his friend, Mushu had ended up leaning back on Sora's leg in an attempt to look cool, but the effect was quickly killed when Sora moved back a bit and caused the dragon to topple over, much to everyone's amusement. "Something like that," Sora chuckled. "And…you are?"

"I'm Mulan," the woman started to say as she stood up, only to flinch back a little and quickly begin stuttering seconds later, while attempting to deepen her voice. "Um, no, I-I mean…"

"Ping," Mushu quickly provided.

"Mulan Ping," Donald repeated in question.

"Just Ping," she corrected while trying to strike a pose that she probably thought came off as manly. "I am Ping, son of Fa Zhou."

"You know Mushu," Sora asked as said dragon finally picked himself up, while Xion just gave Ping a curious look, trying to figure out why the woman was pretending to be a man. She was so busy puzzling the question that she almost missed out on the rest of the conversation. Almost.

"Mushu's one of my family's guardians," Ping replied.

Hearing that instantly made Goofy's cross expression fall into a more apologetic one, as he stepped forward and said, "We didn't know we were borrowin' somebody as important as a family guardian."

"Yeah, that's right," Mushu cut in, startling the six a little before he climbed up onto Ping's shoulder. "And that puts you four up to your eyeballs in debut to Ping here. Well, guess what, kiddies? It's payback time!"

The whole time Mushu was talking, he had missed the nervous smile that Ping was giving the group, clearly uncomfortable with what the dragon was saying, but when he got to the part about payback, Ping could not keep quiet any longer. "Mushu…" she whispered in warning.

"Ah, they don't mind. Ain't that right," Mushu waved off.

"Hmm, sounds fair," Sora agreed, having already determined that he was going to help out his old friend a little anyways after the help that Mushu had given him on their last journey.

"We were already passing through to deal with a few things, anyway," Ventus added in, but still curious about just what it was they had to do. If it was anything too sketchy, there was no way he was going to let any of his friends get mixed up in the dragons' mess, even if it was to help the girl pretending to be a boy. Still, there was something else that he had to correct the dragon on, and he did not hesitate to do so. "But I hope you don't mind that all _six_ of us lend a hand."

"Six," Mushu questioned, turning around to the two newest members of the team at last. "Oh! Sorry, didn't see you two there. I'm guessing you're some new buddies that these guys picked up somewhere?"

"Pretty much," Roxas nodded. "I'm Roxas, and this is my sister, Xion."

Mushu nodded in greeting, studying Roxas for a minute before he finally asked, "So are you related to Ven, or something, because you look a lot like him."

"No, we're not related to Ven. Xion and I are actually…Sora's younger siblings," Roxas immediately replied, having seen that coming, but he was still a bit hesitant about introducing himself and Xion as Sora's brother and sister. They still had not had that talk with Sora that they intended to have after the first time they were introduced as such in Hollow Bastion. Wanting to get back on track, he quickly asked, "So what exactly was it that you wanted our help with?"

Mushu was more than happy to get back to the original topic, and happily explained, "See, Ping here was just on his way to join the Imperial army. We gotta go find the other recruits over at the training camp."

"Would you join us," Ping asked. "It'll be easier to fit in if I'm with guys, like you." He then glanced at Xion for a minute before she started to add, "Although…"

"What do you mean, 'fit in,'" Sora interrupted before Ping could finish whatever she was about to say.

"Well, um, uh, don't—don't worry about that," Mushu stuttered in an attempt to cover Ping's blunder, but it was already too late, and Xion had certainly had enough by now.

" _She_ means that she's pretending to be a boy, you guys," Xion sighed, irritably, clearly annoyed with how clueless some of her friends were being, and with the act that "Ping" was putting up.

Everyone had fallen silent for a few minutes, with most of the group processing what Xion had just revealed, until finally, Sora, Donald, and Roxas let out small cries of surprise. Hearing that drew another irritated huff from Xion along with a quick slap to her forehead in disbelief, but she was able to take some comfort in the fact that it seemed at least Goofy and Ventus had already figured it out too. "You're a…girl," Sora gasped with his voice cracking a little due to his surprise.

With her cover now blown "Ping" had completely dropped her attempts at appearing like a man, and nervously folded her hands with a bit of a blush as she asked, "You didn't notice?"

"Not me," Sora admitted while Donald just shook his head in the negative.

When she noticed that her brother was not giving a similar response, Xion immediately leveled Roxas with an angry look, making him jump back a little in fear. He had seen that look a few times before, and he knew that it usually meant pain was sure to follow if he did not say or do something to appease his sister quickly. "Uh…Well…I-I was a bit…skeptical, but…I just…I just didn't want to say anything right away," Roxas stuttered.

That did not really improve Xion's look by much, but it was enough to the point where she finally backed off just enough to let Roxas know he was safe…for now. "Ping" did not seem to notice the silent exchange between the twins, because she just seemed happy to have fooled someone with her little ruse. "I think it's working," she happily told Mushu.

"I don't know…Those two would fall for anything. Same seems likely for that new guy, too," Mushu shrugged, clearly still a bit skeptical.

"I'm right here," Sora and Roxas both reminded the little dragon.

"Hey," Donald snapped once again.

"No, you three deserve that, because you're all idiots," a very irritated Xion practically yelled, startling the boys and Ping a little. She then took a deep breath to try and calm down a bit, and then approached the disguised woman as calmly as she could. "I'm guessing your real name is Mulan, right? Since that's the name you were using at first."

"Yes," Mulan sighed, clearly feeling a little more embarrassed, and a bit let down at the knowledge that she had not fooled everyone. "Was it really that obvious?"

"Yeah, pretty much, but I'm sure that it's mainly because, well, for one thing, _I'm_ a girl, and for another, I actually have and use my brain, unlike my brothers," Xion answered, giving a side glare to the dimwitted trio, but mainly to said brothers as she finished. When she saw Sora and Roxas rubbing the backs of their heads in a sheepish manner, she turned back to Mulan and asked, "What I don't get is why you're pretending to be a boy in the first place. I mean, it's not like they won't let you in just because you're not a boy, right?"

"Actually…that's exactly the case," Mulan revealed.

"…Come. Again," Xion slowly asked, and the minute he heard her speaking in that slowly, icy tone of hers, Roxas immediately turned almost as pale as a ghost. Roxas knew when Xion started to speak like that, it was a strong indicator of being pissed to the point where someone would have to be insane to try and get in between her and whatever was the source of her anger without a surefire way of calming her down. Not that the others seemed to notice, as they were more interested in hearing the explanation Mulan was giving about her land's culture.

"Only men can enlist to join the army, usually the first born sons of each family," Mulan repeated, not knowing the storm she was stirring up in Xion. "I don't have any brothers, so my father would've had to join, but he had already served in the Chinese army, and afterwards…He still needs to take medicine for the injuries he had received. Add that in with the fact that my father isn't as young as he once was, and I felt that I had no other choice but to do this in order to save his life, because if he did return to serve again, he would have died."

"I see," Ventus and the others all nodded in understanding, truly feeling sorry for Mulan's father after hearing all of this, but also feeling very impressed with how brave she was to do all of this for his sake. Still, it did not keep him from taking notice of how the culture of this world appeared to be. "I know I shouldn't be too surprised by all of this, given that my master told me that some…uh, lands still followed older traditions, including ones that did not consider women capable of being fighters, or as anything more than people who should remain at home to tend to the house and kids, but still, I can't help but think that's a bit stupid. I mean no offense when I say all of this, Mulan."

"None taken; believe me," Mulan reassured him.

"Uh, guys," Roxas tried to say as he noticed Xion was getting even angrier by the minute with every word that was being said, but he seemed to have been largely ignored.

"I'm with you on that, Ven," Sora agreed. "After all, some of the toughest and bravest people we know are girls, and I don't just mean the girls who could and would kick our butts in a fight if we ever questioned that. If Kairi was here right now and heard about this, I'm pretty sure she would be really upset the point of steam actually coming out of her ears."

"Oh trust me, it would be a lot worse than that if Aqua was here," Ventus stated with a fond smile. "She may have been the most composed and well-mannered in our group of friends, but if someone ever seriously made her feel like she had less value in anything just because she was a girl, she would have destroyed them in an instant. Trust me, the story of how Terra learned that the hard way still keeps me up at night sometimes."

"Uh, guys," Roxas called again, even more nervous than before, only to be ignored once again.

"And let's not forget Daisy and Queen Minnie," Goofy pointed out, taking a moment to recollect on the number of times that his best friends' girls were mad. "Why, just the idea of Queen Minnie being upset would get His Majesty running for the hills in an attempt to find some way to make things better before it got ugly."

Ven and Donald immediately nodded in agreement with that, having seen some occurrences of that very scenario firsthand. He then looked back to Mulan and continued, "Still, the fact is, it's brave of you to do something like this, even if it goes against your culture, so I think I speak for all of us when I say that we'd be more than happy to help in any way that…"

"GUYS," Roxas shouted.

"What," the other four asked as they turned to the dual Keyblade wielder, only to pale almost as much as he had when they noticed what he was trying to tell them.

Xion was now absolutely seething to the point where she seemed to have a dangerous aura around her that promised death to any who dared to approach her, while her eyes were glaring so fiercely into the ground that they were surprised that nothing had spontaneously started to combust at least. In fact, the sight of Xion being this mad had even frightened Donald and Goofy into hiding behind Sora, who was as still as a statue at the moment, while Mushu ducked into Mulan's scarf to hide as well. Even Ventus was a bit scared of the girl at that moment, and considering the things he has done and seen in his time as a Keyblade wielder, some of which were indeed very frightening, that was no small feat to accomplish. Still, the Keyblade master at least appeared to be faring better than the others at the moment, and was about to slowly approach Xion in the hopes of calming her down a bit, but she was already speaking before he could even attempt to move an inch.

"So they don't think women can fight just because they aren't guys, huh? Oh, we'll just see about that," Xion seethed quietly, with her words turning into a devious chuckle near the end. She then leveled fierce look at Mulan and Mushu, both of which jumped upon realizing that her sights were set on them, and asked, "Just where is this 'mighty' Imperial army?"

The two Land of Dragons natives could only silently point in the direction that they needed to go, and Xion did not hesitate to begin marching in said direction with purpose. Realizing what she was likely planning, Ventus managed to summon up a little more courage and rushed towards her in the hopes of reasoning with the girl before she did something she should not. "Xion, just wait a minute," Ventus pleaded. "We can't just go waltzing in there and making demands to change things that we don't agree with! Besides, maybe it would be better for you to at least…"

"No," Xion angrily interrupted, making the Keyblade master flinch back a little. "I'm not going to just sit back and let someone else dictate what I can and can't do just because I'm a girl! If these guys think they can walk all over women like that, then they've got another thing coming! I can promise you that!"

With that vow made, Xion continued off in her heated march, leaving the others staring after her in both fear and a slight bit of awe. Ventus was about to try and stop her again when Roxas stepped forward and said, "Don't bother. Xion's one of those girls who doesn't like seeing women being put down in anyway because of some sexist attitude or any reason that's even remotely similar to that, right to the point where she'll likely smack the offender across the face so hard their head wouldn't just spin; it would roll right off and then back on again so that she could slap them a second time. Whatever she's planning, it's going to happen and its better if we just roll with it unless it has very extreme consequences."

No one was sure what to say in response to that, and they all ended up just nodding in response before they joined Roxas in following after Xion. Of course, Donald, Goofy, and Sora all made it a point to keep Roxas between them and Xion for the moment, being too scared to get any closer to the girl, while Ventus made a mental note to try and break Xion out of such thought processes, knowing that they would likely encounter other worlds that held similar views on men and women to this one. There was a good chance that she would likely end up getting into a lot of trouble on such worlds if she was not careful, but then again, he also figured that he should have warned his apprentices of this sort of thing a little sooner so that Xion would be a bit more prepared for this. It was too late to worry about that now though, so all he could really do was move forward with the others and hope for the best.

While she was following behind the team at a slightly slower pace, wanting to keep some distance between her and the other girl for the moment, Mulan was also watching Xion march off with a bit of awe. She would admit that part of her thought the younger girl was a bit crazy, but at the same time, the rest of her could not help but admire just how much braver and strong-willed that Xion appeared to be. It was pretty inspiring to say the least, but it did not make her any less worried for what may happen to Xion when she arrived at the camp.

* * *

By the time that the group had reached the camp, Xion's flames of anger had died down to the point where the others felt it was safe to approach her again, so long as they did not mention anything about what had set her off in the first place. Even so, no one was really sure what they could say right now, as all conversation about this world seemed like a touchy subject until she had completely gotten her frustration out of her system. Thankfully, it did not look like conversation would be too necessary in a few moments, because from the look of things, it was mealtime in the camp, judging by how the soldiers were lined up before a chef, and everyone was a bit hungry, so they quickly moved to join the line.

Halfway there, Roxas noticed that Mulan was not beside them, and looked back to see something extremely odd. "What in the world are you doing," the blonde asked.

Mulan had paused in her march towards the line, and somehow looked even sillier than she had a moment ago when she was walking. She had her knees together, shoulders back, chest puffed out, and basically looked incredibly awkward and strange to the point where she was getting a lot of odd stares from the people around them. "Um…trying to walk like a man," Mulan shrugged.

Roxas could not do anything other than lightly drop his head into one hand, unable to really think of anything to say to that, even with his suspicions that Mushu had something to do with this, and then said, "Yeah…I've never met a man who does that. So please don't do that again, like ever. Just walk like you normally would. People are staring at you in a bad way."

Hearing that people were staring at her weirdly made Mulan drop the "manly" pose she was holding and she quickly began walking like normal again, following Roxas to the line with the others. They had arrived just in time to see Sora suddenly get shoved back by a short man in red armor and one bad eye, who was grumbling, "'Bout time we got some grub."

"Hey, no cutting," Sora angrily told him.

"Get out," Donald snapped. He was ready to charge the guy until Xion suddenly stepped between them with her hand out, silently telling him and Sora to leave the guy to her.

"Hey buddy, didn't anyone ever teach you manners? You know, like 'lady's first,'" Xion questioned, sounding as innocent as she could at the moment, which was still pretty innocent sounding to everyone who was not Roxas.

That got the guy to turn around and face Xion for a good few minutes, honestly surprised to see that there was a girl in the camp, never mind a very young one. After a minute or two, he just snorted and said, "Hey, sorry sweetie, but this place is for the Imperial army. No women allowed, even if they are little girls."

"Oh no," Roxas muttered as he waved for the others to move back a little with his arms wide. "Shouldn't have said that."

"Really," Xion asked in an innocent tone that was most definitely fake. A minute later, she had dropped down and delivered a low, sweep kick that knocked the guy off his feet. Before the guy could attempt to stand up, Xion had already pounced and jabbed her elbow into his back before grabbing him by the head and stuffing his face into the dirt as hard as she could. She then lifted him up and whispered, "Then I guess you should run home to mommy before you get a boo-boo, shouldn't you?" Just to add further insult to injury, after she had stood up again, Xion then pointed out in a tone of voice that was too sugary sweet to be real, "By the way, I wouldn't be calling someone little when they're taller than you, _sweetie_."

Xion then spun around on her heel, determined to get back in line and feeling very satisfied with herself, when the man in red spat out some of the dirt he had just eaten and charged at her. He never reached her though, as Sora jumped in the way and pushed him back before he could even get close to Xion. "Leave my little sister alone, you jerk," Sora snapped. "Besides, last I checked, it wasn't very honorable to attack someone when their back is turned."

That really riled the man in red up, as he immediately jumped up again and slugged Sora aside. Seeing this prompted Donald to join the slugfest, and he immediately pounced the man in red with a short battle cry. "Back off," the man growled as he tried pushing Donald off, only to find that much easier said than done.

"No," Donald snapped as he pushed back, even going so far as to try and bite the guy's arm once. While the two continued to wrestle in the mud, Ven, Goofy, and Mulan all tried to look for an opening they could use to step in and break it up, but were having no success at all. Roxas was not helping the other three because he was sure that he was more likely to join Donald in beating the crap out of the guy after how he had tried to attack Xion.

The brawl was eventually broken up when two more soldiers intervened and pushed both Donald and his opponent aside. "Hey, a space in line," the first one, a skinny fellow in yellow cheered like he had not noticed what was going on.

"I wonder what they're serving for lunch today," the second soldier, who was much larger than all the rest of them and dressed in blue armor, thought aloud.

"Knuckle sandwiches," the red armored man growled before he charged the other two, with Donald hot on his trail. Barely more than a few minutes later, a full battle royale brawl had broken out between the three soldiers and Donald, but they were not alone in their fighting for long, as the three quickly started to gang up on the magician.

"That does it," Sora snapped, jumping back in to give Donald some help, and he made it a point to slug the skinny man across the face, easily bruising him when he struck before he jumped the short man in red, and pulled him away from Donald so he could pay him back for the punch that he delivered to the Keyblade wielder earlier.

It was at this point that Roxas had joined in as well, having charged before Goofy could stop him, and Ven then moved to stand in front of Xion so that she would not get any ideas about joining in on the slugfest as well. Not that she seemed to be all that inclined to, as Xion merely just stood there with a neutral look, either not caring or just waiting for the perfect chance for her to strike again. Eventually, Mulan could not take much more of watching this, and, wanting to do something to stop this, she instinctively yelled, "Please!"

All fighting came to a grinding halt as the combatants turned to face Mulan, with her new friends looking a little worried over the fact that she had used her real voice just now instead of her manly one. The three soldiers did not seem to notice though, because they were more focused on what she had said as opposed to the voice that had said it. "Please," the man in yellow questioned

"What a girl," the red armored one scoffed before he suddenly shivered a little for some unknown reason. He quickly looked around, trying to find the reason for his odd feeling of fear, and jumped a little when he noticed the cold glare that Xion was giving him from where she stood.

No one else seemed to notice though, as most of the attention was on Mulan, who quickly backtracked and switched to her man-voice, and said, "Uh…Knock it off!"

"Knock what off," the red armored man sarcastically asked.

"You punched me," Sora reminded him.

"Cutting in line," Donald added.

"Trying to attack Xion," Roxas growled.

None of them seemed to be too big of a deal to the three soldiers, as the skinny guy quickly proved when he laughed, "What a shrimp!"

"Wha—Who you callin' a shrimp, panda lips," Mushu angrily retorted, apparently thinking that the insult was directed at him and popping out of his hiding place in order to bite back. "I'm a bona fide guardian dragon!"

Ven and Mulan both quickly scrambled to hide the little dragon again before he was discovered, and could not help but sigh in relief when they somehow managed to succeed without anyone realizing it. "Look, we've all clearly gotten off on the wrong foot here," Ventus started trying to reason. "So how about we all calm down and just get back in line, okay?"

"Whose side are you on, Ven? I just got slugged, and Xion nearly was too after the guy had insulted her," Sora protested.

"Oh please," Xion scoffed, entering the conversation again, and pulling all attention onto her. "I wasn't going to get slugged. I just wanted to see if he was a man, and obviously he isn't."

"What'd you say," the red armored man growled.

"You heard me, Shorty," Xion easily shot back, feeling a bit of satisfaction at being able to call someone else "Shorty" for once. "A real man would've known when he was beat and then let it go. Not thrown a fit like a spoiled baby who didn't get his way."

"That's it! I don't care if you're a girl or not. I'm gonna beat you to a pulp," the short man growled. Clearly Xion had pressed all of his buttons, and considering the satisfied smirk on her face, that was what she was aiming for.

"Ha! I'd like to see you try, Bright Eyes," Xion mockingly laughed, steadily slipping into the beginnings of a battle stance. "Oops! Sorry. Guess that should be Bright _Eye_. Singular, not plural, and for those of you are more literally challenged, aka stupid, that means just one and not more than one."

"Get her Yao," the skinny guy yelled, feeling as though the girl's insult was directed at him and his other friend as much as it was Xion's impending opponent.

"Yeah, good luck with that. Sis has got this in the bag," Roxas cheered.

Before anyone could make a move to either engage the fight or stop the two from fighting, a new, commanding voice cut in, shouting, "Soldiers! Get back in line!"

"The Captain," the skinny guy quietly gasped before he and his friends all snapped to attention and fell into line.

Even though they had only just arrived, Sora and the others all quickly snapped into line as well at attention as well, while Xion was barely suppressing an excited grin, clearly showing that she had finally found her true prey. When the captain approached, the team noticed that he possessed a muscular build and had an air of strict seriousness that showed little room for any nonsense, while his attire consisted of white, black, and grey armor, while a red cape was worn around his shoulders and a sword hung from his belt. As he passed by Mulan and the team, the captain merely furrowed his brows a little, but it was not until he noticed Xion that he finally came to a halt and fixated his gaze on the line of troops. More specifically, on Xion herself.

"Excuse me, young lady, but women are not allowed here. You need to go back home," the captain informed Xion, keeping his voice calm and even as he spoke like there was nothing out of the ordinary happening here.

"Really," Xion asked in reply, clearly putting on an act. She then pointed to Yao and said, "Then you might want to tell that guy over there the same thing. The one in red armor, because from what I've seen, he's obviously not a man."

Yao quietly growled under his breath and would have turned to glare at Xion directly had his commanding officer not been standing right there. He was not about to try and retrieve the arrow from the top of the nearby pole while wearing weights again after so many failed attempts. Xion was much more interested in the captain's reaction, and from the look of things, he did not seem too bothered, yet. "This isn't a game, young lady. I'm ordering you to return home, unless you wish to bring dishonor to your family name."

"Yeah, I'm not too worried about that, considering I'm not from China," Xion easily shot back with a smug smile. She only just caught a glimpse of Ven, Sora, and Donald all signaling her to keep quiet, and knew that they thought she was about to reveal they were from another world, but she just shot them a small wink to say that she had it covered. "I'm from Twilight Town, a place that's very far away from this country, and that isn't still carrying such outdated views on the value of women."

"Then why are you here," the captain demanded, and Xion could hear a few small signs of his patience beginning to wear down a little.

"Simple. My people heard about the war going on here and wanted to send help. They sent me, my friends, and my master, the best fighters in our land, and people that may be your best hope and ending this war," Xion easily returned. She then paused for a moment before adding, "Of course, when I heard about how you view women here, I wanted to refuse, but there wasn't anyone else available, so I figured I might as well come any way, if for no other reason than to give you all a wake-up call that's clearly needed far more than I originally thought."

The captain did not say anything in reply at first, but did keep a stern gaze fixed on the girl that made Ven start to feel a little cautious. Whether this guy was the leader of an army or not, if the captain did anything to try and harm his apprentice, Ven was not going to let it slide. Just when he felt like he was going to have to step in, the captain finally broke the tension and asked, "Why wasn't I informed of your group being sent?"

"How should I know? I don't handle the formal, political stuff. I just go wherever help is needed and do what I can to help out," Xion shrugged, brushing off the question as casually as she could.

Seeing that the captain was likely about to snap, Ventus took his chance to step in and keep things from escalating too much. "Our nation is also one of what you could call nomadic warriors," Ventus stated. "We don't have any official allegiances to any one nation, but we do offer assistance to anyone in need, so long as they are in the right. From what we have seen and heard, it's clear that your side is in the right, so…here we are."

Shang studied the blonde for a minute, only nodding in response at first to show he was willing to accept that, before he moved on to another topic. "Just who are you two?"

"You know, it's rude to ask someone for their name before giving your own. Really, does anyone in this camp have _any_ manners, or did you deem them unimportant the minute you put on those suits of armor," Xion smartly replied, making Ven flinch a little at her timing.

The captain appeared ready to snap now, but he slowly breathed in and out for a minute before saying, "I'm Captain Li Shang of China's Imperial army. And you are?"

"Master Ventus, from the Land of Departure in the Kingdom of…Disney," Ventus quickly introduced. Hey, it may not have been entirely true, but it was not a total lie either.

Shang nodded in return before turning to Xion, silently repeating his question to the girl, and this time, she did give him a reply. A short reply that was a little smart, but a reply all the same. "Xion. That's X-I-O-N. Got it memorized?"

Roxas was not sure if he should laugh or tiredly sigh at his sister's sudden need to emulate Axel, even to the point where she had tapped the side of her head like the redhead did whenever he shot off that catchphrase of his. Either way, he knew that now was probably not the best time for her to be doing that, and the captain made that point especially clear. "Yes, along with the fact that you need to leave."

"Oh, I'll leave…Assuming you can make me," Xion then dared, going so far as to step out of line deliver a fierce look to the captain. Sure, he might have been taller than her, but Xion was not about to let him intimidate her.

"Meaning what," Shang questioned, not backing down from her gaze in the slightest.

"Simple: I challenge you to a duel of swords, and if I win, I stay and carry out the job I was sent here for, without you interfering. If you win, I'll offer up my sincerest apologies and leave the camp, simple as that," Xion laid out with a confident grin.

Everyone was a little surprised by that, including the captain, who finally broke out of his stern visage to showcase his shock. None of the soldiers had been expecting this girl, who was much smaller than the captain and did not seem to be very much of a fighter, to suddenly challenge Shang to a fight, and while Roxas was expecting something like this, he did not think Xion was actually going to go through with it. No matter how upset Xion would get in the past, her sense of reason normally kept her from as far as to actually follow through on her crazier ideas. Clearly he had underestimated his sister's fury at learning what she had about this world, because that was the only reason why she would be going through with this idea now. It was for that reason that he kept quiet while the others tried to talk her out of the whole thing.

"Uh Xion, what are you doing," Ventus asked. "We can't just go around demanding fights with other people. Let alone, military leaders."

"Yeah, and besides, it's not like this is going to help with changing the way these people view…certain subjects," Sora added on, having to pause briefly before he brought up the topic that had sparked this from Xion in the first place. He did not want to make the girl turn her sights on him before she had settle things with Shang. "Really, this isn't worth it."

"Just get back in line," Mulan requested in her manly tone, but it turned out that she was the wrong person to say something, as Xion immediately rounded on her a minute later.

"Not gonna happen. Like I said before, I'm not going to let others tell me what I can or can't do just because I'm a girl. Even if I'm alone, I'll gladly stand up and fight for myself and my beliefs," Xion informed them, but mostly Mulan.

The Chinese woman could only stare at Xion with a bit of admiration in her eyes, realizing that unlike her, Xion was not afraid to stand tall and pretend to be something she was not in order to defend her honor. Thinking back to when Ven said that she was brave for taking her father's armor so that she could take his place, Mulan now felt that she had to disagree, because Xion definitely seemed like she was the braver one between the two of them right now. With that in mind, it was no wonder that Mulan found her eyes locked on to Xion even as the girl turned to stare down the captain once again.

"So, do you intend to accept my challenge, or are you too scared of the chance you might lose to a girl," Xion challenged, throwing in a quick jab just for good measure. It was probably not necessary at this point, but she did not seem to care all that much one way or the other.

Shang merely looked at the girl for a minute, apparently still stunned at the fact that she had challenged him at all. None of the other soldiers could blame him though, since it was not every day that someone came into the camp and suddenly challenged the captain out of the blue, let alone a girl from a far away land, but all the same, Shang was able to regain his composure and return to his strong, imposing stature once more as he gave his answer. "I accept." He then turned to move a short distance from the crowd, while everyone began to step out of line and huddle around the two in an attempt to watch. After reaching a satisfying position, Shang looked to Xion again and asked, "Will you need to borrow a sword? You don't seem to be carrying one of your own, and I'm sure one of us would be happy to lend you one of ours."

That comment had earned either scoffs or quiet chuckles from Yao and his two friends, while the team of adventurers just rolled their eyes at the three. Xion paid the peanut gallery no mind though, and simply held her left arm out a little as she replied, "That's very generous, but I'm good. I actually do have my own blade, and I trust it with my life."

With that said, Xion had instantly called Two Become One into her left hand, surprising the soldiers a little when she did. They had never seen someone just summon a weapon out of thin air before, and the stunned expressions on their faces proved to be very amusing to Ven, Sora, Roxas, Donald, and Goofy. Shang on the other hand merely quirked an eyebrow at how she had brought out the Keyblade, and seemed a bit curious about the weapon itself, but he put it aside and drew his own sword from its sheath to show that he was ready at any time. "Is there any particular rules or guidelines you wish to lay down for this duel," Shang questioned, allowing Xion to decide how the winner would be determined when he did.

Xion had to smile a little at that, happy to see that the man was courteous enough to make sure they both had an understanding of some ground rules before they began. "I'll keep it simple," Xion declared. "No killing allowed, for obvious reasons. Whoever yields first, is unable to continue, or remains pinned down for more than five seconds loses."

"And just who will give this five second count," Shang inquired.

"I'll do it, if no one minds," Ventus immediately volunteered, stepping forward before anyone could really protest.

"And how do we know you won't play favorites," Yao questioned, obviously not trusting Ven to be a fair judge.

"You have my word of honor that I will remain impartial in this matter," Ventus easily replied, and that seemed to do the trick for everyone.

Xion then glanced to Shang one last time, silently asking if he had any other questions or protests to give, and the captain nodded in return to show that he was ready. With nothing else to say or do, the two dropped into ready positions, awaiting a signal to begin, and after a few tense seconds where Ven held his hand high in the sky, the blonde waved his arm down, and shouted, "BEGIN!"

The minute Ven had given his signal, Xion had charged Shang as fast as she could, quickly jabbing several quick stabs at the captain the minute she was in range. Shang managed to either block or parry a good deal of Xion's attacks before he began to retaliate, and like that, the camp was filled with the sounds of metal clashing against metal several times over. As the fight went on, it became clear that Shang was a very gifted swordsman, and from what he could tell, Ven would wager that same could be said of Shang's skills in other forms of combat. It certainly made sense, given that Shang did not strike him as the type of leader who would sit back and let others fight for him, but as the fight went on, it began to look like all that skill and experience was not helping Shang at all. In point of fact, as the fight went on, everyone could see that Shang was actually having a bit of trouble blocking some of Xion's attacks, and that only became more so as the fight went on.

When Shang next swung his sword at her, Xion managed to pivot around both him and his attack, and landed a blow to the captain, allowing her to be the one that drew first blood in their match. At that point, Xion back flipped away to put some distance between them, and Shang made no move to stop her, having felt the need to catch his breath. Being so exhausted was surprising to Shang, but not quite as much as the fact that this girl had actually managed to land a hit on him. Sure, it may have been just a scratch, but it was still unexpected, and he figured he should take this as a punishment for underestimating her just because Xion was smaller than him. Of course, one could say that his reasons also included the fact that Xion was a girl, but Shang was not some childish punk that would use excuses like that. All the same, nothing could distract him from how bewildered he was that Xion was holding her ground against him to the point that he almost looked like an amateur, especially since his soldiers were just as confused as him.

"Hey, what's going on? How's this girl giving the captain such a hard time," Yao questioned.

"Yeah. No one's ever been able to do that, not even Chien Po," the skinny guy commented, pointing to the big guy in blue when he mentioned a soldier by name.

"Isn't it obvious," Ventus asked, drawing confused looks from everyone, including his friends and apprentices. The blonde then pointed to Xion and said, "Take a good look at Xion and tell me what seems different about her compared to Shang."

The three soldiers all studied the girl for a minute, each trying to figure out what it was about her that set her apart from the captain, aside from the obvious, but they just could not figure it out. They were lucky that the question was not limited to them, as Sora soon provided something of an answer. "Is it because Xion's using the Keyblade with her left hand," the spiky brunette asked.

"That's exactly the reason," Ventus confirmed, while the three soldiers finally took notice of the very fact Sora had mentioned. "In fact, Xion being left-handed is actually the very thing that would give her a huge advantage in many different sports; not just sword matches."

"How's that," Roxas asked.

"People who are left-handed often excel in sports because most of their opponents are used to going against players that are also right-handed," Ven stated, simply.

"Oh, I get it! Since Shang's used to fighting against people that are right-handed like him, Xion is able to completely throw him off his game just because she fights with a different dexterity than him," Sora grinned excitedly.

Donald let out a brief chuckle, indicating he just found an opening for teasing, and immediately pounced on it. "I didn't think you knew what the word dexterity meant, Sora."

"Yup. It seems like too big and complicated a word for you to really know, buddy," Goofy joined in with an easy-going smile.

"Like you should talk," Sora retorted with a smile as well, obviously pointing Goofy's regular trouble at remembering certain terms, and he quickly earned a small round of laughter from his friends.

Back in the impromptu arena, Shang had overheard a good deal of what Ven and the others said, and it was not long after that he realized that they were right. Having never fought against someone who's left-handed, Shang was definitely unprepared for the fight against Xion, a fact that he had only realized just now, and it seemed like the girl had noticed this, given the proud smile on her face as she held her blade at the ready with a short giggle. You would think that this would make Shang a little upset, but in truth, it did just the opposite. He had actually been hoping for something a little more challenging for a long time now, and now, one was standing right before him in the place of this girl from a far away land. It was so exciting that he could not help but break out of his stoic form and smile a little.

Xion actually caught a glimpse of the captain's smile, and for a minute, she thought that meant he was just toying with her, but after a second glance, she managed to pick up on some traces of enjoyment in his eyes, telling her that Shang was honestly enjoying their little spar. Seeing that actually left Xion a little surprised, but she quickly shook it off and smiled as well, happy to see that Shang was enjoying himself, likely almost as much as she was, but that did not mean she was going to back down and let him win. Apparently she was unintentionally communicating that with her eyes, as Shang's face became set with determination to win just a few seconds after she had her realization, and with that, the two simultaneously charged, ready to clash once again.

From that point on, both combatants were giving everything they had, whether they were striking at their opponent, deflecting an attack, parrying a blow, or even just dodging when they could not avoid the hit. At times, it looked like they were even doing everything they could to shrug off the pain from whatever injury they sustained, assuming they sustained an injury at all, and the whole thing was so incredible that nearly the entire camp had gone silent as they watched the match unfold. All the soldiers were on the edge of their seats, metaphorically or literally in anticipation of who would emerge victorious in this dance of blades, some even holding their breathes without realizing it, and from the look of things, it began to look as though Xion was starting to gather a bit of a following among the soldiers as well. Not that she really seemed to notice, because her attention was fully centered on Shang so long as she was looking for the moment when she would make her final move to take him down. Her analysis almost cost her though, as Shang managed to use that against her and made her fall of balance for a brief time after clashing his sword against her Keyblade with a particularly hard swing.

When Xion stumbled back as a result, Shang quickly rushed in to press the advantage, but the young girl did not falter in the slightest. Instead, she did something that surprised a good number of people. Reacting on pure instinct, she spun her Keyblade around in her hand with a flick of her fingers, and instantly snapped her Keyblade up to block Shang's sword, holding her blade in a reverse grip when she did. After pushing Shang back, Xion did nothing to return to the standard grip she had been using before, but instead, she continued to keep attacking with her Keyblade in a reverse grip, surprising everyone at how well she fought with such a style. Of course, out of all the crowd's reactions, Ven's seemed to attract the most attention.

"Yes, yes, yes, YES! FINALLY! One of my kids is using the same fighting style as me," Ventus had cheered as loudly as he could, almost like he was screaming it out to the highest of high heavens, and drawing looks from everyone around him as he started to break out into a happy dance. It took a few minutes before he finally realized he was getting a lot of looks, and he quickly turned away from the soldiers with an embarrassed smile. No sooner had he done that though that he realized that Sora and Roxas were both giving him looks of their own that indicated that they had taken a little bit offense at his reaction to Xion using his preferred fighting style, and Ven was now having to turn his gaze every which way to avoid both sets of stares, only to find very little sanctuary in any direction. That did not stop his smile though.

With the added turn of Xion fighting with a reverse grip, coupled with her dexterity, Shang had found himself without many advantages, and soon enough, he was dropping down into the dirt with Xion's Keyblade held at his neck. Not only that, but Xion's final blow had also made him lose his grip on his own sword, which Xion then caught and then spun around so that she was holding that at his throat as well. For a few minutes, everyone could only stare in silence, wondering what the girl would do. The soldiers were all surprised when they saw Xion spin the sword around and hold it out to Shang, handle first, in a silent offer for him to take it back, which Shang slowly did. Not that it seemed like he was going to be able to do too much one way or the other, because it was clear as day that they girl had him beaten, and he was man enough to admit.

"I yield," Shang declared, just to make it official, and with that, everyone seemed to break out in applause, soldiers and world adventurers alike.

"That little dame's good," Yao praised.

"Yeah, I'll say. Not just anyone can take the captain on and win, you know," the skinny soldier nodded in agreement.

"She must have had a really good teacher," Chien Po stated.

"She does, but I haven't really taught her too much yet. A lot of what you just saw was things she had learned all on her own," Ventus revealed, surprising the soldiers a little.

"Doesn't mean that you didn't teach her anything though," Roxas pointed out.

"Yeah. Xion wouldn't have even known that she was left-handed without your help, Ven," Sora reminded him.

"That's our Xion," Goofy applauded, apparently too excited about the victory to really pay too much attention, and Donald did not seem to be much better as he just hooped and hollered happily at the outcome.

As for the two combatants themselves, Xion had happily helped Shang back onto his feet, at least as much as she could, given that the captain was still taller and bigger than her, not to mention heavier, but Shang appreciated the gesture all the same, a fact that showed in the way he smiled while holstering his sword. "As agreed, you can stay. You're not going to be part of the Imperial army though," Shang informed Xion. Before the girl could give any kind of retort, the captain then finished, "However, I will enjoy having you with us as an ally. And if you wouldn't mind, I would like to have another spar with you sometime."

That had caught Xion off guard, because she had not expected that request at all. "Are you sure about that," she questioned in total honesty.

"Of course," Shang nodded. "After all, some of our enemies may be left-handed as well, so what better way to prepare for that than by sparing with someone on my side who is left-handed as well?"

Xion could only give a slightly cocky grin before shaking hands with the captain and saying, "You've got a deal, Captain Shang."

With the fight settled, Shang ordered the crowd to break up and get back into line or to whatever they were doing before, and when she rejoined her friends, Xion found herself bombarded with hugs and friendly pats on the back or shoulder in celebration of her victory. "You rule, Xion," Sora told her happily.

"Naturally," Xion smirked like it should have been obvious.

"But how come you didn't use any magic during the fight? You would've had him way sooner if you did," Donald questioned.

"I said that I wanted to have a sword fight, and that was exactly what I intended to keep it as. Besides, someone most likely would've accused me of cheating if I started shooting lighting, fire, or ice at him," Xion reminded the magician.

"Either way, I never doubted that you had it in the bag right from the start," Roxas informed his sister, earning him another smile from the girl.

"Indeed you did," Ven told her. He then turned a little more serious as he stated, "But don't think that means I'm okay with the whole thing, or that it means I'm going to be okay with you going around thinking you can pull stunts like that in other places that hold similar beliefs to this country."

Xion knew that when Ventus said "country" he really meant "world," but that did not detract from his point. She knew that her actions were probably a little out of line and may or may not have nearly endangered her and her friends and their mission if they backfired on her, so she did feel a little bad about the whole thing. That did not mean she would not have done it all over again if she had to though, but she could still see that Ventus had reason to be concerned, so she figured she should at least give him some kind of reassurance for his worries. "I can only promise to try my best in that regard," she finally stated.

"Ah-ah! No, no, no. Do or do not. There is no try," Ventus countered.

"Huh," was the most intelligent reply either that Roxas or Xion could give him.

"What's that supposed to mean? How can we do something if we don't even try," Roxas questioned in full.

"He has no idea," Sora answered for Ven before the blonde master could. "He's just saying it because Master Aqua and his teacher used to say it to him a lot, so he figures it means something important."

"Hey you! Who said that you could answer for me," Ventus teased as he playfully ruffled Sora's hair for his smart mouth. "And what makes you think I haven't figured out what it means while you were sleeping?"

"So then what does it mean," Sora challenged with a knowing smirk. Roxas and Xion both looked to Ventus, just as eager to hear his answer, but only for the sake of curiosity, unlike Sora.

"Well, here's what I figured it means," Ventus started to explain. "If you tell yourself that you're only trying at something, then you're not giving it everything you can, and you won't be able to succeed if that's the case. So, you can either do it and fail, or succeed, or don't do it at all, and never know what the result will be one way or the other. At least, that's what I figured it means. Whatever you guys think it means is entirely up to you. Doesn't mean that I'm entirely wrong in my interpretation though."

While the three apprentices all gave understanding nods in reply to the blonde master's wisdom, along with some humorous smiles at the end, Mulan seemed to be thinking over Ven's words very carefully, wondering if she could apply something similar to herself. True, she had come here so that she could save her father's life, but she was still really nervous about actually going into battle. She had never once tried to really fight in her life, at least not in the sense that she would be expected to while out here, and she was not sure if she would be able to do too well. Yes, she was determined to try her best, but would that really be enough if she was not completely committed to this course of action. Her thinking on the matter was brought to a screeching halt when she noticed something forming in the shadows of the camp, and that same thing startled both her and several of the soldiers when it suddenly popped out, along with several other creatures like it.

"Uh guys…what are those things," Mulan asked as she haphazardly drew her sword along with some of the other soldiers.

"Heartless," Sora, Roxas, and Xion all exclaimed upon seeing the Shadows rising out of the ground, while a few other unfamiliar Heartless materialized close by.

"Everyone get clear! We'll handle these things," Ventus shouted to the soldiers while he and his apprentices readied their Keyblades for battle, while Donald and Goofy summoned out their own weapons.

"Oh yeah? I don't think so," the skinny soldier in yellow armor scoffed while Yao just huffed angrily and Chien Po turned his own glare on the dwellers of darkness. Mulan held a similarly determined look on her face that said she was going to stand and fight, though it was dotted with concern as well, and as such, Ven just sighed, feeling that they did not have the time to argue about this.

"All right, fine, but be careful. You don't know these creatures like we do," Ven cautioned the three soldiers and Mulan.

The three soldiers all nodded in response and quickly drew their own swords as they set to work trying to force the Heartless back, while Sora glanced at Mulan and said, "Ping, I hope you're ready."

"That makes two of us," Mulan admitted before she tried to slash at a Shadow with her sword. She was not able to do anything though, as her swing ended up being very sloppy and only grazed the Shadow, egging it into attacking her.

Seeing the Heartless lunge at her made Mulan jump back in fright, but thankfully, Goofy came to the rescue by tossing his shield through the dark creature and easily destroyed it. Upon retrieving his shield, Goofy quickly turned and bashed another Shadow away so that it was in perfect position to be blasted by the fireball that Donald had conjured up, and the duck was soon returning the favor when he blew another Shadow into Goofy's range of attack, allowing the knight to finish it off with a mighty swing of his shield. The two then helped Mulan to try and attack a wizard-looking Heartless that had the Heartless emblem on piece of parchment that stuck to its forehead, but they were all diving aside when it suddenly swung out at them with its vicious claws. Before they could try and retaliate, the new Heartless dove in with a spinning attack that knocked Mulan into Goofy before she had even realized what was happening.

"Hey, what's the deal with this Heartless," Donald questioned as he attempted to zero in on the enemy for a good shot. He was not having too much look though with how it was hovering around the area.

"I don't know. I've never seen it before," Goofy admitted.

Sora had just slashed through three more Shadows when he heard Goofy's statement, and turned to better study the Heartless that his friends were dealing with. Like Donald and Goofy, Sora did not recognize it either, but thankfully, he had a feeling that someone could give them a rundown, and that person was close at hand for Sora. "Hey Jiminy, is there anything in your journal about this new Heartless," Sora asked as he threw a glance over his shoulder towards his hood, where he knew that the cricket was hiding out.

"That and more," Jiminy reported as he jumped out from his hiding spot and onto Sora's shoulder, but he quickly found himself hanging onto some of Sora's hair when the teen had to roll clear of the claws of another one of the new Heartless. "While we were meeting with Master Yen Sid, I picked up some new notes for my journal so that we would have details on all the Heartless, be it ones we've met before or ones that we haven't."

"Well how about we just stick with information on the one we're already asking about," Roxas suggested while he drove off some more Shadows with his two Keyblades.

Jiminy just nodded in reply before he began flipping through the pages of his new journal, having felt that it would be better to chronicle this new quest in a separate book from the old one due to the message inside of it, until he found the page he was looking for. "It's called a Nightwalker, one of the Heartless that can only be found in a specific world, which seems to be this one," Jiminy reported. "Those claws aren't its only method of attack though, as they can also float around in midair or ghost-fire for long range attacks."

"Well that's not going to help it too much," Xion stated as she turned to let loose a bolt of lightning on the Nightwalker that was attacking Donald, Goofy, and Mulan. She then spun around to blast the one that was hounding Sora.

Ventus had to agree with Xion, as he soon proved by bringing down another three Nightwalkers with a Wind Raid, and before his Keyblade had even returned to his hand, he used off-hand to cast a quick blast of Aerora that he used to launch himself into the air, triggering his Flowmotion abilities, and allowing him to catapult down for a shockwave attack once Guardian Wind was in his hand again. Seeing that there were still Heartless materializing into the camp, with some soldiers quickly being cornered despite the efforts of Shang and the other three, Ven looked to Sora and Xion and shouted, "Guys, time to turn things up and bust out your new abilities."

Knowing what Ven was referring to, Sora and Xion exchanged a quick nod and jumped back a bit so that they could summon out their Drive Forms. At least, that had been the plan, until they remembered one little detail they had not really thought about until now. "Uh…How do we activate the Drive Forms," Sora asked, earning him disbelieving looks from Roxas, Ventus, Donald, and Goofy. "What? Those fairies didn't exactly give us an instruction manual on how the things work. They just gave us our first forms and told us that they had special powers."

Ventus would have smacked himself in the head for not realizing that sooner if they were not in the middle of the fight, but he still did so mentally while kicking back another Nightwalker, which Roxas quickly cut down with Oblivion, and shouted, "Just think about the form you want, shout out the name if you feel like you have to, and shout 'Drive on!'"

"Seriously? That sounds like something you would hear in some kid's superhero show or something," Xion stated.

"Do you have a better idea," Ventus asked as he cut down another Shadow before tossing Guardian Wind through a few more Heartless that were closing in on some soldiers. "We don't exactly have much room to safely use Command Styles or Shotlocks, so it's either the Drive Forms or praying that we can start moving a little faster."

As he was saying that Mulan had stumbled her way through the fight and managed to at least destroy a few Shadows, but still seemed to be struggling to keep up with the others. At that point, some of them were beginning to think it was more due to her armor than anything else, which was likely very heavy since it was her father's, but what they found more important was what she had to say at the moment when she turned to the two Keybearers that Ven was addressing. "I'm not sure what any of that means, but if you have a way to end this a little faster, I'm all for it," the disguised woman informed her friends.

Xion and Sora shared one more look before they shrugged and then closed their eyes, pictured their Drive Forms and the powers they possessed in their minds for a minute, and after snapping their eyes open again, they simultaneously shouted, "Valor Form, drive on!"

One explosion of light later, and Sora's clothes had transformed into the red and white color scheme, with Xion's turning to their gold and emerald green state, and the appearance of their second Keyblades in their off-hands served to signify that they had in fact successfully transformed into their Drive Forms. With their transformations complete, Sora and Xion both went to work slashing both of their Keyblades through the Heartless as fast as they could, which was a pretty impressive speed to say the least, and for a moment, Roxas almost thought that the two were able to fight as naturally as he could with two blades, but he could still see some points that they would need to work on. Ventus could see them too, but he put a little more focus on the fight at the moment. What really served as interesting was that Xion was now fighting with both Two Become One and Midnight Roar in a reverse grip, which made Ventus smile rather widely, but he still somehow managed to focus on the fight at hand for the moment.

Thanks to the advantage of Sora and Xion both using their Valor Form the team was able to whittle the Heartless down to very small numbers, and Sora figured he should finish things up as quick and painlessly as possible, so he immediately aimed Star Seeker at the nearest Heartless and attempted to fire off a blast of magic. Unfortunately, nothing happened, and no matter how hard he tried, it did not seem like any spell he called upon was not going to work either. "Hey, what's going on," Sora demanded as he jumped high over a Nightwalker that tried to slash at him, barely even noticing that he had reached a height he could normally only achieve when he was using High Jump as he did. "I thought my magic was getting closer to being back to what it was before, so why can't I use any of my spells?"

"It's not just you, Sora," Xion called out, drawing the boy to turn and see that the girl in question was also trying to cast a spell without any success as she avoided and parried attacks from the monsters. "I'm not getting anything either."

Xion's attempts at trying to cast magic had ended up leaving her vulnerable to some of the last Shadows, but thankfully, Roxas was able to step in and destroy those very Shadows before they had even gotten within a hair's breadth of his sister. "You know, just a thought, but maybe next time we get some new powers, we test out the limitations and strengths they give us before using them in a fight," Roxas suggested as he dismissed his two Keyblades.

"Yeah, we probably should have done that a little sooner, now that I think about it," Ventus agreed as he walked over to the twins, with Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Mulan joining them once they were sure that the Heartless were gone.

"Regardless of whatever hiccups you may have dealt with, it seems that we still owe you some thanks," Shang's voice cut in, turning the group's attention to him as he approached. "You all fought very bravely to defend my men and this camp from those creatures, which I can only assume is another part of the reason why you came here."

"Yes, you could say that," Ventus confirmed. "We heard that your enemies may have aligned with those creatures, known as the Heartless, and since we possess some of the only weapons or abilities capable of destroying them, we felt it necessary to step in."

"I see," Shang nodded. He then looked around at the group for another minute before noting, "As I recall, I don't think I ever got the names of the rest of your group."

"My name's Roxas, Xion's twin brother," Roxas stated.

"I'm Sora, Ven's first apprentice, and Roxas and Xion's older brother, both as a sibling disciple and as a regular sibling," the wielder of Kingdom Key introduced himself.

"Donald," the magician added.

"Goofy," the knight finished with a nod.

Shang just nodded in return before saying, "You are all more than welcome in my troop. Your battle skills are very encouraging, and just as impressive as Xion's from what I've seen."

"Trust me, Captain, you've only barely seen a taste of what we can do in a fight," Ventus promised.

"Well then I'm looking forward to seeing what else you can do," Shang determined.

At that point, Mulan felt it was time that she introduced herself to the captain, at least by her male alibi, and quickly squared her shoulders so in an attempt to make herself appear a little more masculine, much to Xion's slight ire. "I am the son of Fa Zhou…"

"You should return home," Shang interrupted before Mulan could even give her name. Clearly, he had been far less impressed with her abilities in battle if the small scowl on his face was any indication.

"B-but…That would dishonor my family," Mulan protested.

"You'd rather dishonor my troops," Shang questioned.

"Don't make me…" Mulan started to beg, apparently not really thinking before she spoke, and that gained her an angry look from Shang that made her flinch back a little in response.

"Look, we know that… _Ping_ is a little rough around the edges, but he can get better," Xion stated in her friend's defense, though she made it a point to put extra emphasis on Mulan's alias just to show she was still unhappy with the charade that she was putting on, even if it was for good reasons.

"Yeah, if Ping trains hard and does his best, he'll get stronger in no time," Sora said in agreement.

"I don't have time to train up a new soldier so that they're fit for duty. My troops and I need to move out to the front lines in a few days, and I need everyone at their best," Shang stated.

"Fine, then we'll train him," Ventus promised, surprising Shang and his friends. "Hey, I'm already training these three kids here to become masters like me, so it shouldn't be too much trouble for all of us to train Ping as well. Just give us a week and he'll be as good if not better than any one of the soldiers in this camp."

"I can't give you that. We move out in five days," Shang revealed, but he could also see that the bearded blonde was not backing down. He then hummed to himself in thought before he made a counter offer. "Two days."

"Four. Bare minimum for both us and Ping to be decently ready for action," Xion retaliated in kind. Apparently, she was feeling rather brave after her victory against the captain.

"Three, and not a minute more, while taking on any assignment I give to you and your group," Shang countermanded in kind.

"Done, but only if Ping can accompany us on those assignments. No better training than in field experience," Ventus pushed back.

"I have no problem with that," Shang agreed, and with that, the Keyblade master and the army captain sealed the deal with a handshake and a smile on each of their faces. Not that any of that made Mulan feel much better, as she was now a lot more nervous than before.

* * *

"Well, I think we can all agree that was a lot of drama we could have lived without, for the most part," Ventus sighed a few hours later once the team had assembled a short ways out from the camp.

After they had made their deal with Shang, the captain had informed them that his men's mission was to ambush the Hun army, led by Shan-Yu as they made their way through the mountain pass in an attempt to reach the Imperial City. While Donald thought that they would be taking point on said ambush, Shang had a different idea: he wanted the team be the advance party that would scout the mountain path ahead for the rest of the troops. It seemed like a pretty simple assignment, but the team knew better since the Heartless were most likely waiting along the path that Shang intended for his troops to take in order to reach the position they needed to be in for said ambush. Not that they were too worried, but they did promise to train Mulan on how to fight properly while they were doing that, so there was that to deal with as well. Of course, there were other matters that they felt that they needed to be concerned about as well.

Sora was the one who actually brought up one such concern, feeling that it was probably one of the more important ones. "What I don't get is why Xion and I couldn't seem to use any of our magic while we were powered up earlier," the spiky brunette had admitted with his hands resting behind his head. "I mean, we're both really good with magic, yet every time we tried casting a spell, nothing happened."

"Yeah, it was almost like all of my magic had been blocked off or something," Xion revealed with a wondering look.

"Well no one said that your Drive Forms did not come with some drawbacks. Maybe being unable to use magic is just one of them," Roxas offered up in explanation.

"And it may not stop there, either," Ventus pointed out. Seeing that he had gained the attention of all three of his apprentices, Ventus went on to add, "Think about it. The ability to use magic already means that it becomes that much harder for you two to summon out the three common Command Styles, but who's to say that you're even able to use those abilities at all? Not only that, but what if there's a chance that you won't be able to use Shotlocks either?"

Sora could certainly see Ven's point as he said that, and immediately decided that he should try and experiment a little during this on-the-go training session to see about all of that for himself, but Xion did not really seemed to bothered by it. "Well, I'm not even able to use any of those yet, so I think I can manage for a little while," the girl shrugged indifferently.

"That doesn't mean that you're not still going to learn how to, kid," Ventus pointed out. "Especially since I'm going to be teaching you and Roxas how to use the common Command Styles while we're carrying out this assignment."

Hearing that definitely made Xion change her tune and start grinning excitedly along with Roxas, but they were all soon reminded that they were not the only ones there at the moment. "You guys do remember that Ping's going to need some training from you too, right? I mean, you did kinda make that deal with Captain Grumpy saying that you would be doing just that," Mushu interrupted.

"We didn't forget anything," Donald reassured the dragon.

"Yep! Me and Donald will be handling a lot of Ping's training while Ven's training Sora and the others," Goofy promised.

The group was mainly referring to Mulan by her alias just to be on the safe side, because while they were a ways out from the camp, there was still no way to be sure that one of the troops would not wander out there and overhear what they were saying to one another. Mulan really appreciated their caution in this regard, but that did not make any less concerned for her new friends. "Are you sure it won't be too much trouble for you to train me," she asked. "I mean, you all clearly have some things that you need to work on, yourselves. I don't want to be the cause of any trouble."

"Hey, don't worry, you won't be," Sora reassured her. "Besides, we're all going to pitch in and help at different times."

"Glad you feel that way, Sora, because you're going to help Donald and Goofy out with training Ping first," Ventus informed him.

"Huh?! But I thought you would want me to help with training Roxas and Xion on the Command Styles," Sora protested. He did not necessarily have a problem with training Mulan on how to fight, but he did feel like he was being a little left out like this.

"I know, Sora, but Mulan's training is just as important as theirs. Besides, do you really want to leave all of her training to those two," Ventus asked, indicated Donald and Goofy when he posed the question.

Sora had to admit that Ven did have a point in that regard. While Donald and Goofy were great training partners, they were not really the best teachers either. Between Donald's temper and Goofy's…well, goofiness, there was a chance that Mulan might not be able to gain too much improvement if she was left to train with just them, so Sora had to nod in agreement with his master, even if he was not entirely satisfied with the fact. Apparently his displeasure was more transparent than he realized, because Ven was soon placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder, and said, "Don't worry, once at least one of these two have gotten a feel for the three Command Styles, that one will switch out with you so that I can start you on the next level of your Command Style training."

"You mean…" Sora trailed off at the end partly due to his excitement, and partly because he wanted to hear it from Ven's mouth.

"That's right, kiddo. I'd say it's finally time," Ventus confirmed with a smile, and Sora's excitement only grew even more when Ven finally said the words themselves. "It's time for you to beginning training in Tier Two Command Styles."

* * *

 **Aqua's Journal Entry 2:**

 **I can hardly believe we actually made it. Well, I made it, but only because Mickey insisted on pushing me ahead of him, and now, I'm inside of Castle Oblivion with Riku as he makes his way up through the basement levels. Honestly, I had not realized how large I made this place, or just how white I had made the interior. I know I wasn't really too focused on interior decorating when I remade the castle at the time, but looking back, maybe I could have added a few more colors besides just mostly white with the occasional pale tan. I'm surprised that Riku has managed to keep track of which floor was which as he climbed up through here.**

 **Speaking of Riku, it's only just now that I've really managed to judge just how large the stain of darkness in his heart is. I'm actually a little surprised I never realized it until now, but then again, when we last met, we were still in the Realm of Darkness, so that might have had something to do with it. It almost reminds me of some of the last times I saw Terra before…well, before everything. Still, the fact that the darkness inside Riku's heart is so great could be considered a testament to how powerful Xehanort's Heartless truly was. Even when it's just his heart separated from his body, the man brings so much pain into so many people's lives. I can't help but wonder how you could've remained friends with Xehanort for so many years after you realized what he had been doing, Master Eraqus, but suppose seeing him bring Ven to us while claiming he did not wish to "risk making another foolish mistake" might have had something to do with it. I'm glad that he did, since it meant that I never would've met Ven otherwise, but still…**

 **What really worries me right now though is how these…people, for lack of a better word, found a way past the castle's defenses. True, it's not all of the defenses, or even the most important ones (Thank Kingdom Hearts those are still intact), but the fact that they can find a way to navigate deeper into the castle without being lost within its halls forever is still concerning. I will admit the method in which they did so is actually pretty impressive. Using cards created from a person's memory of a world to create an illusion of said world to better navigate through the labyrinths in each room is ingenious, and it actually has me wondering just how they stumbled upon that secret. I didn't even know that was possible. Maybe it was something that Master Eraqus's influence had worked in. I can't really be sure. Still, there's something really odd about the people overseeing the castle and claiming to be its masters. I may not know what it is, but I do know one thing: they are not the masters of Castle Oblivion, and with Riku's help, I'll be sure to show them that soon enough. I just have to hope the darkness in his heart does not become too much of a problem before then.**

* * *

 ** _AN: Okay, so confession time, this chapter was originally going to cover the entirety of the Land of Dragons, but it got to be a little too long, so I had to end it on a cliff-hanger, but I'd like to think that it turned out pretty well, regardless of that fact._**

 ** _Ven: I just can't believe that you went the route that you did with the story here. Especially with Xion._**

 ** _AN: Well it shouldn't be that surprising. Even though she's sometimes seen as someone who's a little shy, Xion does still have that same fire in her that's inside of Kairi, especially since..._**

 ** _Xion: Don't even finish that sentence if it in anyway makes me sound like Kairi and/or Sora's daughter._**

 ** _AN: Sheesh. Get over it already. Anyways, the idea for Xion taking that little stand of hers was actually partially inspired by another writer's fanfiction, a crossover between Sword Art Online and __Kingdom Hearts_ _that I read a little while back, and I felt that a similar scenario would be fitting for Xion in this story as well, so I couldn't help but run with it. Huge shout-out to "Jacob Pendra-Huth" for providing that little bit of inspiration. Looking forward to seeing where you take that story series, my man._**

 ** _Also, now we finally have the answer on why Xion was always feeling awkward with her fighting style. The reason being that she was left-handed all along without even knowing it. That idea actually came to me after seeing that one scene between Roxas and Xion in Twilight Town. You know, the one where Xion points her Keyblade at him before getting into a fight with Axel? I'm sure you all probably noticed it, but Xion had definitely summoned the Keyblade into her left hand, and did not immediately switch it over to her other hand right away before she got into the fight. Ever since I saw that, I thought that it would be pretty cool if that was a sign of Xion becoming her own person: simply because she was left-handed whereas Sora, Roxas, and Kairi are all right-handed, so I found a way to work it in here, and I fully intend to do the same for some of my other Kingdom Hearts stories as well. I just really like the idea of having a character who's left-handed in this story, and Xion's the perfect choice for that, mostly because she's the only one who's ever really shown the potential of being as such._**

 ** _Speaking of new developments in Xion, now we've seen a little hint on how having Ven's heart as part of her own has affected her, because look at that, Xion's using a reverse grip now too, just like our favorite blonde Keyblade Master. Part of that is because I thought it would be cool to have another person using that style, and it would help Ven to better connect with Xion over the course of her training. The other reason, well I just thought it would be nice to have someone else use Ven's fighting style. While it is cool that Ven's the only one that fights with a reverse grip, it also seems rather lonely as well._**

 ** _And finally, the matter of Aqua's latest journal entry. Yeah, not much to say here, but I'll try anyway. So basically, it's saying that Aqua ended up getting to Castle Oblivion before Mickey, because they found some kind of short-cut that more than likely could only be used by one of them, and Mickey felt that Aqua should be that one. So, she's now getting an up-close look at how Riku's trials in controlling his darkness goes, while also getting a firsthand look at how the Organization infiltrated the castle. The rest is basically just her thoughts on how the cards are being used to open up the rooms and make getting through the place a little more manageable. At least, that's how I figure that they work in this scenario. The cards aren't being used to dictate battle abilities in this series, just helping with opening up the labyrinth so that our heroes could better navigate it._**

 ** _Now before we get on to the next chapter's preview, let's wrap up with those review answers shall we?_**

 ** _To start off, let's address the questions posed by "The Keeper of the Worlds". Your questions about Xion having her own breed of Nobodies to control is an interesting concept, but at the moment, I can't really say for sure if I'll run with it. You never know though. That may very well change later on down the line, because it does have potential, like you said. As for Ven's interactions with Marluxia, Larxene, and all the others that apparently have legacy ties to the Keyblade War, well, I'm not entirely sure that Ven really remembers that time too well, and I got the impression that some of them didn't either. So for now, I'm not going to have too much of a really personal reaction between Ven and those characters, as there isn't really much of a plan for them as of this time beyond what we saw of everyone in the canon. Though, I can't really say that I really see the point of having that Chirithy spirit suddenly showing up out of nowhere like that, or that other dude who helped Sora take down the Heartless storm like he did. If I do decide to spin it around somehow, you'll know when it happens._**

 ** _Moving right along, let's go on to "Ronin Warriors Fanatic". I'm not really sure if it would be all that possible to give Scar a Nobody, especially since the Organization didn't have any kind of presence in the Pride Lands beyond the Heartless being there. So there's very little chance of that happening, no matter how interesting it might be. Sorry._**

 ** _To "Dragon Rider 66", yeah, your comparison of Roxas and the Samurais to Captain Rex and the 501st makes perfect sense, no worries there. As for your questions on how I plan to adapt certain game mechanics that we gained in KH3, I don't want to give away too much just yet, but I guess it couldn't hurt to at least tell you all how I plan to explain the ability to change between different Keyblades in the midst of a fight. In the simplest of ways to put it, the reason is because one of the heroes figures out that they can in fact attach more than one Keychain onto the Keyblade at a time, and after that, it's all a matter of just thinking about which Keyblade's power they want to use in the moment. The Keychain in the middle would be their default that they would summon from the start, but if they felt like they needed a different blade, they would put a little extra concentration into it when they first call out their Keyblade. (An example would be that if Sora had {going from left to right} Shooting Star, Kingdom Key, and Favorite Deputy attached, the Keyblade he would summon by default would be the ever iconic Kingdom Key. If he ever switched that order around, then the Keychain that was in the middle would become the new default). Hope I made that clear for you, but the rest of the details regarding how I work in and explain the KH3 mechanics you will have to wait for. No more spoilers._**

 ** _Rolling it on over to our old pal "Spiderfan626", yeah, I did in fact unlock the secret ending that you are referring to. In fact, I made it a point to make sure that I did everything necessary to unlock it the minute I heard about it. I'm also right there with you and everyone else who's hoping we won't have to wait nearly as long as we did for KH3 before we finally see KH4, or really just another Kingdom Hearts game in general, and considering that we did have Kairi as a supporting character for one battle in KH3, once again, I'd like to believe that next game we will get to play as Kairi as well. Fingers crossed for that. I also agree that it sucks that Sora and Kairi didn't kiss, but hey, at least they finally shared a paopou fruit, so that's something, right? Also, there's a good chance I may actually try to work that moment you suggested into the Kingdom Marvels series, don't worry about that. But it might not be against Xehanort himself, I'm sorry to say. Doesn't mean that we can't still do it to Xehanort here._**

 ** _Ven: Hey, I've gotta ask, is Xehanort still tied up in that one room that you left him in so that Sora and Kairi could beat the crap out of him?_**

 ** _AN: Yep. I think the two actually went out for a little bit so that they could have a breather. Not much point in them beating up a corpse you know, but I think it was more for their benefit than his. I heard them mention something about a dinner at some fancy restaurant, or the bistro in Twilight Town._**

 ** _Xion: Oooh! Sora knows how to treat his lady!_**

 ** _AN: Like that was ever in question? Anyway, to "CT7567Rules", yeah, Star Wars will be a world we see in this story, and Rex will show up, you don't have to worry about that. Yeah, I know I've just gotten a lot people really excited now, but really, you probably should've figured this would happen since we had a Star Wars summon in the previous story. And to answer your question, I've got Kingdom Hearts 3 for the PS4._**

 ** _Rolling it over to the guest reviewer known as "UNKNOWN", Kairi will in fact be joining the Avengers during what you could call the events of the Kingdom Marvels version of KH2, and you'll see that there's actually a huge reason behind that when we reach that point in the series. Also, good guess on who the possible Power Ranger summon could be, and yeah, he will have that very morpher if he shows up._**

 ** _Oh, and to "Twisted Pxl", at the moment, there is no real plans on going back to Deep Jungle, I'm sorry to say. There just doesn't seem to be too many places that it could be worked in._**

 ** _Now to "Monkey D. Conan"'s review for the last chapter, Sora's not actually going to become Xion's official teacher. It was really just a way to reference how far he's come up to this point, even though he's regressed like you guessed. Aside from Flowmotion, Aqua and Ven won't be using any KH3 abilities. In fact none of the characters will until we reach this series' version of KH3._**

 ** _"Anonymaton", I'm going to try and work in as many of Roxas's in-game abilities so that he can use either them or a version of them in this series, and at this time, I'm reserving a great deal of judgment on my theories for what may unfold in KH4 until we have a few more clues than what we saw in the epilogue and secret ending scenes._**

 ** _To the "Guest" of 2/18/2019, who asked about Ven's new appearance for drawing purposes, in my mind, while Ven is now more buff, in my mind, I've pictured him having something of a runner's or swimmer's build, I guess you could say. Like he's not overly buffed or bulky, or at least not to the same extent of extra muscle as Terra, but he definitely has gained some extra muscle. So I guess lean would be a pretty accurate description. Maybe slightly cut and toned as well._**

 ** _To "theIrishWriter", I'm only going to answer your last question since I'm assuming you've probably gone back and reread the previous story by now to answer that other one. Sora's mainly introducing Roxas and Xion as his siblings as a way to cover their true identities, but I guess you could say that he considers them as his actual siblings as well. Kinda like how Peter Parker views Ben Riley, the Scarlet Spider, as his brother._**

 ** _Moving back to guest reviews, namely the "Guest" of 2/18/2019 who asked about Ven, Aqua, and Terra's age, I tried looking it up, and the closest thing I found was something that said that by BBS, Terra was 20, Aqua was 18, and Ven was 16, if I remember right._**

 ** _To the guest reviewer "Adam grimes", assuming that what you posted was a compliment (and believe me, I am banking very highly on the idea that it is), thanks a bunch!_**

 ** _Rolling it over to the guest review "CG", very interesting choice of name, btw, your suggestion/request has definitely helped give me a few good ideas, especially after reading through your reasoning for it, so I would say that the chances of it happening are now very high, at least as far as the final battle against Xehanort goes. As far as the various fights against the real Organization XIII goes, all I can do is promise to do my best in that regard, but I'm sure that with what I have in mind, you'll all find it very enjoyable._**

 ** _Now, to round it out with one of the longest guest reviews I can ever remembering getting, from "Arthogawa". First off, let me just say, that idea you proposed on Ansem-Riku getting in a surprise blitz that Sora isn't able to dodge or a similar instance...is brilliant! I can't believe I didn't think of that myself when I was writing Dual Keys! Oh well, too late now, I guess, unless I can find some way to go back and change it later, but then again, the way I had it play out I feel was a bit more dramatic in its own way, even if it was similar to canon. And yeah, Sora didn't hear the others mentioning being able to summon Genie for that, because at the time, he was purely focused on waking up Kairi, and probably believed that Ven would be able to finish the job without him or something._**

 ** _Also, as for why Ven didn't lose his composure when meeting Xigbar/Braig like he did with Xehanort's Heartless, there's actually a few reasons. One being that Braig, while annoying and infuriating had not wronged Ven as greatly as Xehanort did. The guy really just showed up before him the one time and then got his butt kicked by Aqua before running away like a little bitch._**

 ** _Xion: Dude!_**

 ** _AN: What? We all know it's true. Secondly, while Ven was getting riled up, he was not really able to do too much before Xigbar ran like the coward he is._**

 ** _As for your question regarding how Sora can still exist even though Roxas isn't part of him, you have to keep in mind that was already the case in canon as well, as Roxas had already been around and was doing work for the Organization long before Sora had ever ended up at Castle Oblivion, so I didn't really change much there myself. It's just something that was happening in the original version that I kept around._**

 ** _Beyond that, I can't really answer to many more of your questions or comments without giving away spoilers, and as we all know, I don't normally do that._**

 ** _Ven: At least not without some crazy gag that stops the whole spoiler from being given at least._**

 ** _AN: Po-tay-toh Po-tah-toh. I will say that you have given me a few ideas for things I could do later on in the story though, so thanks for that. Here's hoping you enjoy the rest later on._**

 ** _Well, I think that's everything. Remind me never to do review answers for two chapters again, especially when the list of reviews to answer is as long as this one was. We didn't even have time to do much of anything that fun._**

 ** _Xion: Well, at least you still got that whole question of who would win in a face-off between Kim Possible and Carmen Sandiego out there._**

 ** _AN: Yeah, that's true, I guess. Anyways, let's wrap things up and move Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _Training may have become a little more difficult now that the team is working on their own skills and getting Mulan into fighting shape, but it is not impossible, and soon enough, the team finds itself joining the Imperial army in their march to the position where they intend to ambush the Huns. Though that does not stop Xion from trying to get her point across to Mulan about how she does not need to pretend to be something she's not to prove her value or bring her family honor. All the same, the two girls are more than ready for when they finally confront Shan-Yu, but can the team handle both that and whatever comes afterwards? The battle for China may be entering its final stages, and the girls are ready to show everyone just what they're made of, next time._**

 ** _Please read and review, and see ya real soon! Seriously, I'm not doing two chapter's worth of review answers in one chapter again, so let's do what we can to avoid that in the future people! Now, what're we all standing around for? Back to rehearsals for when we reach this series' version of KH3_**

 ** _Oh, and I almost forgot! I recently posted a new version of certain scenes/chapters in Keyblades of Future Past, so if you haven't seen that yet, go check it out. Think of that as my new Final Mix version of that story. I'll be posting the original version of those scenes in a separate story later on. And if you want a little more of an idea on how the rest of the Keyblades Unleashed Series will play out, you can see a summary for the future stories in the series on my profile now, so check that out too, if you'd like!_**


	11. The Heroes of China

**_AN: Hello one and all! And welcome back to another thrilling chapter in the adventures of the Keyblade Legion!_**

 ** _[audience applause]_**

 ** _Xion: And another chapter in which I get to really show how awesome I am!_**

 ** _AN: Careful! I don't wanna have to use any spoiler prevention gags on you, girl._**

 ** _Xion: You didn't have a problem with it in Keyblades of Future Past. _**

**_AN: Uh...touche. How about we just move along with today's review answers before anyone says something they regret, myself included._**

 ** _Let's start things off simple with a response to "Greatwestern1522", and say yes, there will eventually be some Riku/Xion in here. Maybe not quite as much as the other pairings, but it will still be in here._**

 ** _Next up to "rmarcano321", there's actually a couple lessons to be taken from last chapter. One is the age-old wisdom that many people need to relearn time and again as to why you should not make a girl mad, and another is that you should not underestimate what can be expected of Xion or any character in this series. You never know what may happen to them later on down the line. Although I will go ahead and say that no characters will be getting killed off entirely, unless they're certain bad guys *cough* Xehanort *cough*, or someone like Eraqus, who's already dead, and likely going to just be like some kind of Force Ghost if he ever does appear in the main story._**

 ** _Rolling it along to "Dragon Rider 66", the ideas for Roxas and Xion's Unique Command Styles and Shotlocks are all still a work in progress, but I will go ahead and say that some of them will take inspiration from one or two abilities that they held in 358/2 Days, or other fights. Whether or not your suggestion (Which I did get, by the way), has any grounds to influence those respective abilities for Roxas still remains to be seen. As for your random question, I went with the game's version of the story because that's the one I know best, and quite frankly, I think it worked a bit better than the manga one. Plus, I really don't like that little punk, Chi-Fu, and if I went with the manga version of the story, I would have to include him. As for the matter on Aelita, she will not be a summon in this story (at least its not intended for her to be one at the moment), but she will be in it. If you can't guess when she'll show up, you'll just have to wait and see._**

 ** _Xion: Here's a hint: it's at a certain point during one of our later trips to Hollow Bastion._**

 ** _AN: Shush! Don't be saying things that are a dead giveaway!_**

 ** _Roxas: Oh, and by the way, I did get that Christmas present you sent me, so thanks for that. I just haven't had a chance to really use it yet, but I will if a certain someone doesn't watch himself around Xion. [throws a warning glare coupled with an "I'm watching you" gesture at Riku]_**

 ** _Riku: [pales upon hearing that and seeing Roxas's look] Mommy._**

 ** _AN: Okay, moving on before someone turns into a big baby, *cough Riku *cough*, to "CT7567Rules", yes, it will be in the Clone Wars era. As for your question about when I return to work on those specific stories, it may be a while, given that most of, if not all of my focus is centered on my Kingdom Hearts related stories, but I am going to try and update any of those other stories as soon as I can. Just, expect more updates to anything Kingdom Hearts related for a long time to come._**

 ** _To our old pal "Monkey D. Conan", don't worry about the rant, everyone's allowed to have a moment or two to do so, especially if there was something that they did not like about something as epic as Kingdom Hearts 3, but I did promise that I would try and make my version of it at least a little better, and I intend to keep that promise. Yes, I will be using the KH3 outfits when this series reaches that point, because frankly, those were indeed very awesome, though I may have a few changes made to Xion's, and maybe even Namine's when we see them in that time period, at least for the moments during the adventure when they're fighting and stuff. And now that you had mentioned it, I have started to at least brainstorm on some ideas for new looks for Ventus and Aqua to adopt in my version of KH3, which, if you guys have seen my profile recently, would be Kingdom Hearts Trinities. Oh, and yeah, there will be a Ven and Aqua wedding in KH3, but it won't be happening during the battle with Davy Jones. Wouldn't want to step on Will and Elizabeth's special moment, you know, even if it was overshadowed by a battle against cursed pirates._**

 ** _As for your other questions regarding this specific story, I'm not entirely sure if I'll really be covering all of the events of Atlantica in this story, mainly because I'll be having something else going on at the same time with some of the other characters, but I'm sure you'll recall that in an earlier chapter, I did imply that Roxas had a good singing voice. He just did not enjoy singing for a large audience or in public because he believes otherwise._**

 ** _Roxas: It was back during the Summer Vacation arc if you need to double check on that. Which day was it again? Day 2?_**

 ** _AN: No, it was Day 3._**

 ** _Roxas: Oh, right. Day 3._**

 ** _AN: As for all of your other questions...Sorry, but I'll be keeping most of those answers close to the vest for the moment._**

 ** _Moving on to the "Guest" of 2/24/2019, who I'm assuming is the same guest reviewer that was asking about Ven's appearance for drawing purposes, I suppose that is a reasonably close comparison, if we were to use that._**

 ** _Sora: Hey, here's another one from "CG", and it looks like he's got questions for all of us._**

 ** _AN: Well, let's not keep the guy waiting. We'll answer those questions in the same order they were posed, so Sora, start it off._**

 ** _Sora: Okay. Hm, it's actually a little hard for me to really say for sure. I mean, Final Form allows me to use two Keyblades, which I can control telekinetically, but Ultimate Form is a power that's drawn out from the Ultima Weapon, which is pretty powerful on its own in any and all of the games. I guess it really boils down to a matter of opinion really, but if I really had to make a choice myself, at least in this case, I'd probably say Utimate Form of KH3. Because again, Ultima Weapon powers it, and that Keyblade is really hard to get, so it had better be really powerful. Not that Final Form wasn't hard to get too, but there is an easy trick to unlocking it, while in the case of Ultima Weapon in any of the games...no trick what so ever._**

 ** _Kairi: My turn! I'm pretty sure my ultimate Keyblade in this timeline will still be Royal Radiance. There just doesn't seem to be anything that fits better in my opinion. Regarding your questions about Ava, I do think there might be a possibility that she might've been my grandma, but I wouldn't put money on it. Though if I was related to Ava somehow, it would be pretty cool. I mean, she's the only foreteller that's actually got any kind of sense in her head (you know, since the others were so willing to follow Xigbar and basically started the first Keyblade War). As for improvements to my character in future Kingdom Hearts games, here's one: stop making me a plot device and/or a damsel in distress! Especially after having me say that I'm not going to be either one of those things so much! Ahem, aside from that, I think another great thing would be to see my canon character become really gifted with magic, like Aqua, and maybe see me get trained by Aqua as well, because, let's face it, if the events of KH3 canon were any indication, Merlin failed in his job of training up me and Axel._**

 ** _Riku: Okay, so in my case, yeah, I'll be using Braveheart eventually, like I did in KH3, but as for the question of ultimate Keyblades for me, I'd kinda like to think that maybe Braveheart was my ultimate Keyblade. It certainly gives off that feeling in my opinion._**

 ** _AN: Yeah, let's not answer the question regarding the Final Fantasy characters' lack of screen time in the game. Trust me, that's a can of worms that even I'm not willing to open in this._**

 ** _Ven: No kidding. I'm pretty sure I saw Serah and Snow from FF13 trying to hold Lightning back from going over to Square Enix and blasting all of them with her gunblade at one point. Anyways, my answer to "CG"'s question for me is that it is possible that a counterpart isn't created for Keyblades wielded by a Princess of Heart, but given that the only Princess of Heart to become a Keyblade wielder was Kairi, I wouldn't be too sure of that._**

 ** _Roxas: If Ven's heart wasn't in Sora when I was born, how would my hairstyle have looked in comparison? Hmm, I guess it would be pretty similar, but maybe a much lighter shade of color, and maybe parting in a different direction, and spiking up in a different direction as well. But that's just a guess._**

 ** _Donald: As for my sister, Della, I guess we'll just have to wait and find out if she shows up in the series. I mean, we've seen the boys and Uncle Scrooge, so who's to say we won't see Della too?_**

 ** _Goofy: And as for Maxie, I guess he hasn't been mentioned because it just never came up. And he's probably off at college at that time, or being his own man, or some other thing like that. I'm so proud of my boy._**

 ** _AN: Easy there, big guy. Don't go crying tears of joy on us just yet. To the "Guest" of 2/25/2019, who asked about Ven and Aqua, I will indeed try to give those two a moment to really be alone and talk about all the things that they had been through after they reunite, along with a moment to show the kids what they're made of when they're both together. Don't worry about that. I just hope I can pull it off right._**

 ** _"Anonymaton", it's a little hard to say for sure if that ability Xion had in the game will come into play at any point in this story so far, but considering I'm trying to go for a theme of Xion becoming her own person, at least for the most part, I wouldn't count on it too much._**

 ** _Riku: Also, I don't know the answer to that question you asked me, but I have to know, why do you ask?_**

 ** _AN: Moving on, to the "Guest" of 2/25/2019 that asked about Ven and Aqua using D-Link to contact each other, part of the reason is that at least one of them doesn't know for certain that the other is really out of the Realm of Darkness, or where she could be. The other reasons I will explain when we get to the chapter in which Ven begins training Sora, Roxas, and Xion in how to use the D-Link as well._**

 ** _In answer to "Arthogawa", Ven constantly putting Sora in a position where he teaches someone something isn't really all that intentional, nor is it intended to lead up to something. It just sort of happens. Though I guess you could say it's Ven's way of teaching Sora responsibility for others, and especially that of being a senior, sibling disciple to Roxas and Xion, in a way._**

 ** _As for your question about how much earlier Aqua got to Castle Oblivion than Mickey, I would have to say that it was definitely before Riku's battle with Lexaeus, so she will be there for both that and Zexion's schemes, but perhaps sometime after or at the same moment that Riku met the Riku Replica. (Seriously, someone really needs to come up with a better name for the guy besides Repliku), but rest assured, Mickey will be showing up earlier in that adventure as well, thanks in part to the help he had received from Aqua. You'll find more about that in Aqua's next journal entries._**

 ** _Finally, to the "Guest" of 2/26/2019, namely, who asked about the BBS pairings, yes, we all know that Aqua &Terra make a bit more sense since they're both legal adults and all that, at least based off that information, but at the same time, Ven's still not that much younger than Aqua, so they also make a fair bit of sense as well. Plus, keep in mind, this was at the point of BBS. Given that they are all technically at least ten years older now, I don't think age would really matter that much to them, do you?_**

 ** _Whelp, I think that's a wrap on review answers, and it looks like we don't really have much time for any funny stuff today again, at least not here in this note, so let's get everyone onto the story, shall we?_**

 ** _I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story._**

* * *

 **Chapter XI**

The team had made it a point to try and make their training with Mulan beneficial for all of them, especially considering it had become just as essential for them as it was for her. After the battle in the camp they all needed to know just what sort of strengths and limits the Drive Forms came with in addition to having Roxas and Xion learn at least the basics of the Command Styles, especially if they really intended to fight in a war along with Shang and his troops. As such, Ven worked hard with teaching the twins how to use the common Command Styles, probably even harder than he did Sora from what the blonde's first apprentice could see, while Sora did everything he could teach Mulan some fighting basics. Sure, Sora was mostly self-taught when it came to basic sword fighting and such, but after training with Ven, he did know a lot more about other fighting styles to help the disguised woman out at least a little.

The first thing Sora did was help her to fix her fighting stance, if not by much than certainly to the point where it was not so awkward and likely to make Mulan trip with every move or attack she made. Afterwards it was all a matter of helping her to get a better feel for fighting with a sword. Sure, she had held a blade, but there was a strong difference between simply holding a weapon and actually fighting with it, as Sora could attest from his early days of what he would call sword training with Riku. To be honest though, coaching Mulan through sword training was probably harder than helping her to fix her fighting stance, because while most of her strikes and slashes were good, they were also really slow and a bit hesitant. Sora figured that part of the problem was in the fact that her armor was too heavy for her, which did make sense since it was her father's armor, but he knew that they could not do anything about that since Mulan insisted that she needed to wear the armor in order to better maintain her disguise. It seemed like a bit of a flimsy argument in Sora's eyes, but if Mulan said it helped her to appear less like a woman, then he was not going to try and argue too much. He was going to leave that to Xion when it was her turn to try her hand at training Mulan.

They did not have to wait long, as Xion proved to be very quick on the uptake when it came to Command Styles. In fact, she was able to get a basic handle on the three common styles even more quickly than Sora had, much to the Kingdom Key wielder's shock and slight jealousy. Then again, she did have a good deal of Sora's memories within her, so he had to figure that might have had some sort of effect on it. Either way, he was not complaining too much when he was finally allowed to take a break from teaching Mulan so that he could help Ven with getting Roxas up to speed on Command Style training. Mulan herself, was a little more hesitant given the fire in Xion's eyes seemed to promise a great deal of pain in the training regimen she had in store for the Chinese woman, and while it was making her respect Xion a little more, it also served to make Mulan a little afraid of the younger, smaller girl as well. From the sounds of pained grunts and groans that followed shortly after Xion took over, Sora got the impression that her worries may have been well-founded.

Sora eventually just shrugged off the concerns about Xion's method of training for Mulan and decided to focus on helping Ven with Roxas's Command Style training for the moment. This was proving to be more of a challenge for everyone, because while Xion was a natural with the Command Styles, Roxas had quite a bit of a struggle in getting anything out of said training, and the reason was actually rather simple. Since the energies within a wielder needed to be directed through their Keyblade in order to activate a Command Style, Roxas was not entirely sure if he had to direct the power through just one of his Keyblades or both of them at the same time. Sure, that was not a problem if he was only using one of his Keyblades, but since Roxas naturally used two most of the time, they needed to know one way or the other. That was why Ven and Sora were helping Roxas to experiment to see how it would work for him. At one point while they were doing so, Sora had a random thought that he could not help but give voice to.

"You know, if Roxas doesn't need to channel the power through both of his Keyblades simultaneously for one Command Style, do you think that means he could build up power for two styles and activate one with one of his Keyblades while activating the second with the other," Sora asked. When he had received confused looks from the other two, he tried to simplify what he was aiming for. "I mean, sure it would be great to see him using just one Command Style, but if he could channel one Command Style through one Keyblade a piece, who's to say that he would be unable to use that kind of ability to create some kind of combination of two Command Styles."

"I don't think I follow, Sora," Ventus admitted, with Roxas silently saying the same with his eyes.

"Hmm…Well, think of it like this," Sora suggested, trying a little harder to explain what he was getting at. "Say he could activate Firestorm with one Keyblade while he used the other to activate Diamond Dust at the same time. Maybe by doing so, the two could mix together to create a combination of the two styles, like one that creates fire that freezes things, or maybe one that shoots ice shards that summon fiery explosions when they hit a target. We could probably call it something…Fire Dust, or Diamond Storm…No, wait! How about Diamond Fire?!"

That earned a laugh out of the master of the three, which led to amused smiles from both Sora and Roxas as well. "First off, I think the name Diamond Storm is already taken by someone or something. I'm not sure by who or what, but it definitely sounds like something that's already being used," Ven chuckled to his first apprentice. "Second…you actually make a good point. That could be a possibility, but that'll have to be something we look into another day. Right now, we should try to focus on helping Roxas activate normal Command Styles before we start experimenting to see if he can use any Combo Command Styles."

Ven's reasoning may not have seemed like much fun to either of the two boys, but they did know he was right to say that they should not be trying to make anything new right now. That was the type of thing that was better left for when they were in the gummi ship's simulator deck and not when they were in the midst of a mission like right now. So, they focused on figuring out how Roxas would be able to activate Command Styles, and as it turned out, they were partially right in how he did it. He could in fact activate one Command Style with just Oathkeeper or Oblivion, but only if he was just using the one Keyblade. If he was using both of the Keyblades, he needed to channel the powers equally through both Keyblades at once, and that was probably the most difficult thing of all for him to do. After at least six failed attempts at activating a Command Style while using both Keyblades, and learning that he could still summon out a second Keyblade after activating a Command Style, Roxas determined that he would just settle for what he managed to pull off and work on everything else later. After all, their training was far from done after that point.

The next thing that they had to deal with was the limitations and strengths that came with Xion and Sora's Drive Forms, and the two were both quick to start doing just that. As it turned out, they could not use any Command Styles at all while in the Drive Forms. Even Sora's Unique Tier One Style was inaccessible while he was using Valor Form. Not only that, but it turned out that even if they were using a Command Style before transforming, the power would instantly vanish the moment that they had changed, much to Xion's disappointment when she made the attempt. Thankfully, they discovered that there were still some special skills that they could use while in Valor Form, and the most important of those was the ability to use Shotlocks. More than that, Sora discovered that he could fire off a Shotlock from one Keyblade before using another through the second one without draining his energy too greatly. Sure, it was not much use to Xion, since she did not yet know how to use any Shotlocks at all, but it was still better than nothing, so the two were willing to take that over not having any form of long-range abilities while in Valor Form.

The only other thing that they learned about Valor Form was that it made it easier for the two utilizing it to get a better handle on learning the magic powers like High Jump. Sure, Sora already knew this ability, but given how his other magics had regressed because of his year-long sleep, Ventus had a feeling that the same could be said for Sora's magic control. He was not entirely wrong, as Sora found that his use of High Jump only helped to get slightly higher than he normally would with a regular jump. It was still an impressive height, but not quite the height that Sora was able to reach a year ago with this same ability. Thankfully, Valor Form made it so that one's normal jump was able to reach heights that you could only achieve with a certain level of High Jump, depending on the wielder, so it was not long before Sora was able to reach the height he could with said ability again. Working with Valor Form also allowed Xion to at least reach a quarter of that height as well, but that still left Roxas with having to learn the ability the old fashioned way. Not that it was too big of a problem given that High Jump was the simplest of movement enhancing magic to learn, but he definitely would have liked to have had a shortcut to figuring it out like Xion had been given with Valor Form.

You would think that after getting all of this figured out that Ven would have finally started the next step in Command Style training for Sora, and allowed the others to put all their focus on getting Mulan ready for their mission, but before he could even think of uttering the words, Shang came in to say that it was time for them to start scouting out the mountain pass for his troops, and the team had no choice but to leave any further training to in-field experience. Thankfully, Mulan did not seem nervous or scared anymore, at least not as much as she had been when they first met her or when they were fighting the Heartless in the camp, so that was of some benefit to the team at least. The Heartless that were prowling all along the mountain pass they were scouting out for Shang's troops on the other hand, not so much.

As they went, they encountered quite a few Heartless, old and new, and they would have been very lost on how to deal with the new ones were it not for Jiminy shouting out information from inside of Sora's hood. Thankfully, a good majority of the Heartless seemed to consist of Soldiers and Shadows, but there were still quite a few Nightwalkers floating around as well, slashing at the heroes as they tried making their way forward. In addition to that, there was also another new Heartless that held the appearance of a large centaur with a long guan dao with an angular, silver blade and an orange and purple handle, and when these came charging at any of them, they did so with enough power to send any of the group flying with hard tackles. Jiminy said that these new massive beasts were called Assault Riders, a name that was given to them due to their battle prowess and their horse-like lower body, and given how much of its attacks were based in close-combat, it would be less dangerous to use long-range tactics against it. Not that such words of caution stopped Roxas from moving in and showing the large Heartless just what the dual-wielding Keyblader was made of. As a result of such rash and hasty charges, Roxas found himself knocked into the air quite a few times by the Assault Riders and their bladed staffs, but thankfully, he did have the others close at hand to make sure that he would not end up hurt when he landed, and if he did, Donald, Sora, or Ven were always quick to cast a healing spell to get him on his feet again, or toss him a potion that would do the same.

The climb through the mountain pass was definitely filled with battles for the seven, but that did not stop them for even a second. If anything, it only made them all the more determined to get through, and that was especially true in the case of Mulan. Sure, she was still pretty scared of what was happening around her, but now, after all the help that the others had given her in learning how to fight, she felt more than ready to face those fears and the enemies that were attacking them, and she did so with gusto. Of course, Mushu provided some assistance as well by letting loose a few blasts of fire like the dragon that he is, but for the most part, any enemy that Mulan felled, she defeated with her own blade. Xion could only smile in approval for Mulan's newfound courage, even though she was still a bit upset about how she was hiding behind her guise as Ping, and that made it much easier for her to stick close and provide whatever assistance she could for the young woman in disguise without getting agitated.

In the end, through their combined efforts, the team had managed to clear out the trail to where the army would be setting up their big ambush for Shan-Yu and his forces in what was practically record time, leaving both the soldiers and Shang rather impressed. Yao and his friends even stopped by to offer up congratulations and words of praise for the team, and especially in the cases of Mulan, or rather Ping, and Xion, as they seemed to have carried most of the workload in the three's eyes. Not that anyone had a problem with them thinking that, because the boys all had a feeling that Yao was just doing his best to make sure he did not end up on Xion's bad side again after seeing her in action. That did not mean that they were any less genuine in their praise of Ping. Shang on the other hand did a much better job at keeping his impressions at bay, as he merely said that he was willing to let Ping join his troops despite thinking that he did not have what it takes to be a worthy soldier. It left Sora and the others feeling a little upset and annoyed with Shang's stubbornness, but Mulan waved it off and said that it was fine so long as she got the chance to show Shang what she was made of in order to prove her worth in the end. That earned her a small smile from Shang, indicating that the captain was happy to see that Ping's determination was not wavering at all despite have reached the goal that the team was aiming for, and he left it at that.

Afterwards, the troops had managed to set themselves up in a nearby village within the mountains, guaranteeing that they would be ready for when Shan-Yu finally appeared, and that was when Ventus finally managed to put aside some time that they could use to finally begin the next stage of Sora's Command Style training. "All right, everyone, listen closely," Ventus instructed his three apprentices. "I know that this bit of training is mainly for Sora, but all the same, I want all of you to pay attention. I'd rather not have to repeat any more of this than I have to when it's your turns, Roxas and Xion."

The twins both quietly nodded in response, small smiles on their faces that showed they knew they were just here to get a sneak preview of what was to come, but Sora's response was just an excited grin that had barely faded at all since Ven had told him he would be taking this next step in his training. "Come on, already! Let's get started," Sora cheered. "I can't wait to start using some more powerful Command Styles!"

"Easy there, Sora. If anything, you should enjoy this while it lasts, because hearing this little lecture is probably the easiest part of Tier Two Command Style training," Ventus laughed in reply to the kid's eagerness. He quickly turned serious again as he began his lecture. "Now then, Tier Two Command Styles are some the trickier abilities to learn, at least when you first begin using them. This is due mainly in part to how you access and activate them. Sora, do you remember what I told you about Tier Two Styles when we first talked about it a year ago?"

Sora crossed his arms in thought for a minute, combing through his memories of said times before he gave an answer. "You said that you would need to already be in the middle of using a Tier One Style because they draw on a lot more power from your magic reserves and your heart. And that when you start using them, you typically have three at your disposal: one that's unique to you and you alone, and two that you share with the people who are closest to your heart. Right?"

"More or less," Ventus smiled in response, satisfied enough to see that Sora remembered that much of his lesson from so long ago. "I also mentioned that sometimes it would also be the other way around, in that you would have two unique to you and you alone, and one that you share with someone else, and that the one you shared with others would only be true if those people were Keyblade wielders. Those are things that are all dependant on the wielder in question though."

"So then, how do you know which it would be when you start learning," Xion questioned, feeling rather curious about that from the moment she heard it.

"You don't," Ventus replied. "Knowing what kind of Tier Two Command Styles you would get at the start is impossible to determine until after you've actually started learning them, and then discovered what the styles are. Of course, there are some Tier Two Styles that anyone can learn, some of which have been used to help someone practice and get a feel for how to activate those abilities."

"So how do you activate them," Sora asked, wanting to know that answer more than anything.

Ventus smirked at that question, and did not hesitate in answering it. "Activating Tier Two Command Styles is something of a two step process. The first and easiest step is to have any Tier One Style already activated, as I've already mentioned, but the second step is both the most important, and for some, the most difficult to master: timing."

"Timing," Roxas questioned, clearly not getting it anymore than the other two were.

"Yes, timing," Ventus confirmed, having expected this bit of questioning. "Sora, you know that rush of power you feel as your building up to a Command Style's finisher?"

"Kinda hard not to," Sora commented, as he knew just what Ven was talking about. Even just thinking about it now made him feel pretty giddy sometimes, and that feeling was only stronger when he thought about the rush he would get from his Unique Tier One Command Style's finisher.

"Good, then that should help a little," Ventus nodded. "You see, in order to activate a Tier Two Style, you need to use a specific spell or ability right at the moment that the energy of your Tier One Style's finisher would be unleashed. If you use it too soon, it won't work at all, and if you try too late, you'll just have to settle for using the finisher of whatever Tier One Style you're already using. Knowing how to measure the speed in which your Command Style's energy builds up is a particularly essential part of activating Tier Two Styles, but not quite as much so as knowing just which spells or abilities you need to use in order to activate your Tier Two Command Styles."

"So I guess I need to practice a little more with the Command Styles I already know in order to measure how quickly I can build up the energy for their finishers before I make any real attempts at activating my Tier Two Styles," Sora guessed.

"That would be part of it, yes. However, it also helps if you have a Tier Two Style that you can practice with. Fortunately, I know of a general use Tier Two Style that you can use in order to get a feeling for activating these abilities: Rhythm Mixer," Ventus revealed, getting an eager smile from Sora, showing that he was eager to learn it. "In order to activate the Command Style, you'll need to build up the energy in a Tier One Command Style, and then, when the time is right, cast a lightning spell, or use anything that has a lightning element to it. Just keep in mind, only you can discover what the requirements are for activating your three Tier Two Command Styles."

"How am I supposed to do that," Sora asked.

At this point, Ventus could not help but chuckle a little. "See now, this is the part that I'm sure is going to make you feel like I'm being a bit of a broken record, because that answer lies within your heart. When you're first trying to use Tier Two Command Styles, as in making a conscious effort to access them, your heart will be giving you a small nudge on what abilities you need to use in order to activate the ones that are unique to you, and the ones that you share with people who are close to you. In the case of the latter, it's easier to figure out just by thinking of those people, because when you do so, the instructions come to you a bit more quickly."

"And my Unique Tier Two," Sora asked.

"No one really knows for sure what allows a wielder to discover that, because it's always different for everyone. Most of the time, it's all just a matter of experimenting a little until you finally figure out what works best. In essence, it's really no different than how you would figure out what your Unique Tier One Style is and how to activate it," Ventus admitted.

Sora nodded in reply and then said, "Okay, then I guess I'd better get started on learning how to activate Rhythm Mixer so I'll be ready when I figure out what my big three are going to be, huh?"

"That you should," Ventus confirmed. "Just remember to not try and push yourself too hard, and don't try to rush it. There's no need for you to know your Tier Two Command Styles just yet."

Sora could only grin with a thumbs-up in response before he moved to find another area close to the village where he would be able to safely practice trying to activate the Tier Two Style that Ven gave him, with Ven promising that he would join Sora as soon as he checked in with the others along with Roxas and Xion. Anyone could tell that Xion wanted to keep practicing with Mulan to make absolutely sure she would be ready when they finally faced off with the Hun army, and besides, they had already left Mulan and Mushu alone with Donald and Goofy for quite a while now. No one should have to suffer through that insanity for longer than necessary, even if it was usually a barrel of laughs most of the time.

* * *

It was not that big of a surprise, but it was also no less frustrating for Sora that after working hard for several hours, he still had not managed to activate Rhythm Mixer even once. After his previous experiences with learning the Tier One Command Styles, Sora knew that he was likely to have trouble with learning how to use the next level of said abilities, but he did not think it would be this hard. Ven was not kidding when he said that getting the hang of the timing was difficult; every time Sora thought he was getting close to the right moment, he would always be too early or too late in casting the necessary magic, and it was definitely beginning to get on his nerves a little. Not only that, but he did not even get the smallest indication of what kind of spells or abilities he would need to use for any of his personal Tier Two Styles as he was practicing, but he figured that would probably be due to the fact that he had not learned how to at least activate one such style thus far. Sure, Ven said that doing so was not necessary for that, but Sora could not help but think that figuring out the timing on activating Rhythm Mixer would be a huge help for him in figuring out what he needed to know for his personal Styles.

Thankfully, Ven was able to join Sora quick enough to help him improve a little bit in his timing, and it turned out that more often than not, Sora was casting the spell too early. Not that Sora was unable to figure that out on his own, considering he not unleashed any of the finishers for his Tier One Styles, but it was still nice to have some confirmation on that fact. The two then figured that maybe having a small sparring match would help him to get a better idea on how to activate a Tier Two Command Style, and were about to do just that, when Roxas came rushing over shouting that Mushu apparently had a huge discovery that he needed to share with them right away. It was a little frustrating that Sora had to put such important training on the backburner for the moment, but they both knew that it must have been important if the others had sent Roxas to tell them about this, so the two Keyblade wielders quickly hurried back to the mountain village with Roxas.

It did not take too long to track down their team, considering that most of them were gathered up on the outskirts of the village and gathered around the small, red dragon, but they were a little suspicious of how it seemed that Mushu was glancing around like he was making sure no one noticed them. Then again, it was obvious that Mushu was trying to keep himself hidden from the other soldiers, so they figured that it was some kind of family guardian thing and put it aside for now. Not that it was too hard for them to do so after they heard the news that Mushu had for them.

"Okay, girl, here's your chance," Mushu declared, directing most of his information towards Mulan as he began. "I just saw this real shady guy, and I know it's Shan-Yu."

"Shan-Yu," the team all exclaimed, not expecting for Mushu to have discovered the Hun leader was already here.

"If he's here, then the rest of the Hun army, or even the Heartless can't be too far behind," Ventus determined aloud.

"We've got to tell the captain," Sora decided, and the others all agreed completely.

"Waaait wait-wait-wait WAIT," Mushu shouted just as the team was turning to head into the village and find Shang, and startling everyone with his cries as a result. "Everybody use their heads a sec."

"What for," Roxas asked. He thought that Sora's suggestion made the most sense, and the others all agreed. If Shan-Yu was here, then Shang needed to know so that he could prepare the rest of the troops for whatever the Hun leader was planning.

"I'll tell you what if you just listen," Mushu replied with a grin. "Now, why are we here? To make the captain see Mulan's—I mean, Ping's talents and bring honor to her family."

"Yeah…" Ventus prompted, but he had a bad feeling in his stomach that he knew where Mushu was going with this.

"So, let's go find out where Shan-Yu is, by ourselves. Then, if we're lucky, we can fry him up good," Mushu suggested. "Though just tracking the guy down should earn us our stars, Captain Musclehead will have to notice my girl!"

"Yep, I should've known," Ventus groaned in exasperation. "Tracking down Shan-Yu is one thing, but doing so without letting anyone know where we're going is way too risky. Not to mention the whole thing could be a trap."

"Ven's right. We should at least let the other troops know beforehand so that they can be ready for any surprises," Sora agreed.

"But if Shan-Yu is close by, he might get away while we're doing that," Roxas reasoned. "This may be our best chance to stop him and put an end to the war all at once, and as a bonus, we'll have helped make Ping a war hero. Sounds like a win-win to me."

"Hey guys, how about we let Mulan decide. I mean, if you think about it, this whole thing is really her decision," Xion pointed out.

Everyone turned to the Chinese woman in question, wanting to see what she would do, and after a moment of contemplative silence, she seemed to turn serious and said, "Okay. Let's go."

"We've got your back," Xion promised with a grin, obviously happy to see that Mulan was going with Mushu's plan, while Ven grimaced a little in worry.

"Now we're cookin'," Mushu cheered.

"So where did you see Shan-Yu," Donald asked.

"He's over in a cave outside the village," Mushu revealed, pointing in the direction of the cave he had seen the Hun in.

"Oh, well that isn't terribly convenient or anything," Ventus muttered in obvious sarcasm.

"Yep, that definitely screams trap so loudly, it might as well come with a bright, glowing sign," Sora groused in agreement.

"You would know all about that, wouldn't you, Sora," Ventus teased, referring to Castle Oblivion.

"Can we please let that go and focus on the fact that Shan-Yu's baiting us to leave the village," Sora asked his master.

"Or Shan-Yu could've just been careless. Either way, the only way we'll know for sure is if we go there," Xion told the two, and she immediately raced off with Mulan right beside her in the lead position after Mushu had slithered up into her scarf again and Roxas hot on both of their heels.

Sora and Ventus could only let out tired sighs at this, before the latter looked to the last two members of their group and said, "Donald, Goofy, you guys stay here at the camp, just to be safe. If this is a trap, then I'd rather not have the whole group caught up in it."

Both knight and magician snapped out a salute in response to Ven's orders, and with that done, the blonde master and Sora took off to catch up with the rest of their friends. Not that they had to go too far, as the cave turned out to be practically right outside the village gates, it was so close. Seeing that had made Ven even more worried about Mushu's claim, and Sora could not help but think back to how he had ended up in Twilight Town the more they moved further into the cave. Sure, he did not remember anything about Castle Oblivion, or even seeing the place, but considering that it caused him to lose a year of his life, no one could fault him for feeling a little anxious, and his nerves were definitely at that point at growing as they moved further into the cave. When they took notice of some candles lining the walls of the cave as they moved further in, suspicions of this whole thing being a trap became more valid, but when they finally reached the end of the path inside, all they found was a large, empty chamber that had a shrine against the wall opposite of the entrance, more candles along the walls, and not a single soul in sight, let alone Shan-Yu.

"Dead end," Roxas asked in disbelief.

"Here's a better question: does this look like a trap to anyone but me," Ventus posed, though it was obvious that he was being sarcastic, since it would have been obvious to a blind man that this was a trap, assuming Shan-Yu really was here.

"I don't know. There aren't really too many hiding places in here or along the trail that led us down here, so maybe Mushu was just seeing things before," Sora suggested.

"No way, Mister! Everybody knows that dragons have great eye sight, and I'm telling you, I saw Shan-Yu coming into this cave," Mushu insisted, slightly offended that Sora doubted him like that, and still insistent on what he saw. "Check again!"

"Check where? Behind a rock? The only thing in this place is a bunch of tiny candles," Xion pointed out.

Ventus still kept his guard up, waiting for anything to spring out at them, but after not seeing anything or anyone for all the while that the others were conversing, he finally sighed and said, "I don't think we're going to find anything here, so let's just go back before anyone notices we're missing."

Roxas had to agree with the older blonde, and he did not hesitate in following Ventus back to the cave entrance. Just when the two had crossed the threshold into the chamber though, the whole cave began shaking, and everyone could tell that it was not an earthquake. "Uh-oh," Xion whispered.

"IT IS A TRAP," Sora cried out. "RUN FOR IT!"

Neither one of the girls needed any prompting from Sora, as they were already booking it out of the cave chamber. Sadly, they were too slow in their attempts at escape, as a flash of light signaled the appearance of a barrier forming to cut them off from their blonde companions, as Xion found out after she had collided with it. Hearing his sister suddenly cry out in pain, combined with the worries he had gained from the sudden earthquake made Roxas spin around just in time to see Sora moving to help Xion up to her feet after the barrier had sent her sprawling onto the ground. "Xion," Roxas called out in worry, moving to help as well, only to collide with the barrier like she had.

"Sora! Ping," Ventus shouted as well, only just noting how, unlike his sister, Roxas had remained standing, and he was quickly hacking at the barrier with both of his Keyblades. Not that the blonde was having any success in doing so, mind you.

"What's going on," Roxas demanded when he realized that he was not making a dent in the energy that was blocking him and Ven from the others. "Why can't I get through this?!"

"Roxas, enough," Ventus shouted as he pulled Roxas back before his younger doppelganger hurt himself. "That's a battlefield barrier. Nothing's going to get through until the caster is knocked out or the combatants inside defeat whatever enemies are linked to it."

Before Roxas could ask what combatants Ventus was talking about, he saw several Heartless suddenly materialize into the cave chamber with Sora, Mushu, and the girls, providing him with an immediate answer. Not that the four were completely unprepared for the attack, as seen by how Sora already had his Keyblade out the minute he realized the barrier was there, but even with Mulan and Xion drawing their own swords for battle, Roxas was not any less worried. "We can't just sit here! The others need our help!"

"Who said we were going to just sit here," Ventus asked, confusing Roxas a little. "Do you think the Heartless could set up a battlefield barrier on their own? The caster has to be close by, and if we can find him…"

"We might be able to free the others by taking him down," Roxas finished. He did not really like the idea of leaving his sister behind, but he knew that Xion could take care of herself. Besides, it was not like she was all alone, so he probably did not have too much to worry about. With that in mind, Roxas could only sigh, "Okay, Ven. Let's go find the guy."

Ventus nodded in response and then motioned for Roxas to follow after him, and as they rushed out of the cave he revealed, "I think I spotted someone leaving the cave just after the barrier went up, so our chances of catching him may be really good."

Back on the other side of the barrier, Sora had overheard Ven's plan, even as he slashed through some more Shadows and rolled aside to avoid an Assault Rider's spinning spear, and became all the more determined to keep the others safe as best he could until they found the battlefield barrier's caster. That is assuming that they were unable to defeat all of the Heartless in the chamber before the two blondes had gotten back, but given how good he knew Xion was, and how much Mulan had improved with their coaching, he had a good feeling about their odds, so the wielder of Kingdom Key was not too worried. If anything, he felt like this just made things into a race to see if his group could fight off the Heartless before Roxas and Ven took down the person who had trapped them down here, and Sora was not one to let someone easily win a race against him. With that in mind, it was no surprise that his attacks against the Heartless became a little more excited and slightly more vicious, making him the perfect person to deal with the Assault Riders that had just materialized to replace the first one after Xion had destroyed it with a blast of Blizzard.

With Sora focusing on the two larger enemies, the girls turned their attention to the Shadows surrounding them, and they let loose in every way that was available to them. As they were fighting, Xion could not help but shout out suggestions and advice to Mulan on how she was dealing with her enemies, feeling like a bit of a backseat driver, but Mulan did not seem to be complaining. If anything, she looked a lot more grateful, especially given that some of the advice Xion was giving had helped her to cut down three Shadows at once, much to her satisfaction. Of course, that had also caused her to pause and celebrate too soon, giving a couple Shadows a chance to try and pounce on her. Luckily, Xion was able to intercept them with both a quick blast of Fire and a swing of her Keyblade before they had so much as touched a hair on Mulan's head, but she was not going to let Mulan's mistake slide so easily.

"Stay focused, _Ping_ ," Xion called out, her tone having a little bite when she uttered Mulan's alias. "You can't afford to celebrate when you're in the middle of a fight, no matter how cool or impressive one of your achievements may have been."

"R-Right. Sorry," Mulan stuttered in response before spinning around as fast as she could to cut through another Shadow. A part of her was still feeling a bit of despair at seeing how upset Xion was with her on her decision to pretend to be a boy in order to bring her family honor, but in Mulan's mind, Xion just did not truly understand why she had to do this. Being from another, faraway place meant that Xion came from a different culture with another set of customs, so Mulan did not think that the younger girl could ever know what it was like to have to live in the world that she did, trying to be something that she was not in more ways than one, and having to hide behind a mask even when she was trying to be herself. It was pretty upsetting for Mulan, and actually made her a little mad at Xion at times, but right now, she could not afford to be getting upset with the girl over something so petty.

Xion did not seem to notice the way Mulan's face had scrunched up in frustration due to her attitude, but that may have been because she was so focused on the fight. Not that it was a bad thing, because that same focus was what allowed Xion to bust out the Firestorm Command Style and add a little extra firepower to their side of the fight. After burning several Shadows into dust, Xion glanced in Sora's direction to see that he had also activated a Command Style, his being Thunderbolt, but from what she could tell, he was having a bit of trouble with the last Assault Riders even with the power boost. Reacting quickly, Xion turned to provide whatever assistance she could, but when she unleashed the fiery finisher of Firestorm, some Shadows jumped in the way, blocking her off from her intended targets and getting destroyed in the Assault Riders' place. Xion could only curse under her breath at the rotten luck, and was about to try and shoot out another spell to help Sora when she was suddenly forced to spin around and block an attack from a Nightwalker that had just joined the fight. She was about to tell Mulan to go and back up Sora, but when she saw that the disguised woman was occupied with fending off some Soldiers, she knew that it was unlikely her friend would be able to provide anymore assistance to Sora than she could at the moment.

Upon ducking out of the way of another charging Assault Rider, Sora had come to the same realization as Xion had, and he knew that at this point, he really only had one shot at beating these things on his own. It may be a long-shot, but it was also the best chance he had right now, so he had to at least try and go for it. Moving quickly, Sora attacked once again, hitting the Assault Riders over and over in an attempt to build up the energy of his active Command Style a little more, until finally, he felt that it had reached the point it needed to be at, and he took that as his cue to jump back. Saying a quick prayer in his head, Sora quickly held his Keyblade up high, and shouted, "Thundara!"

The lightning spell easily hit its intended targets, but it did not destroy them. If anything, it only seemed to make them mad, but thankfully, Sora had not been aiming to destroy the Assault Riders with that spell. Instead, he could only grin as a new surge of energy unlike anything he felt before raced through him, and he immediately began channeling that energy into his Keyblade like he had so many times before with all of his other Command Styles. Apparently, the energy he was tapping into could be felt by everyone in the room, as the Heartless had all stopped moving out of trepidation while the girls just turned to him in curiosity of what the source of this new energy was. When they locked eyes on Sora, they were surprised to see that the aura of his Command Style was changing from bright green with electric sparks, into an electric blue color while two pulsing cubes of energy started to take shape and orbit around him.

"Hey, what's going on with Sora," Mushu asked as he peeked out from Mulan's scarf.

"I think…I think he's doing it! He figured it out," Xion whispered with a smile, and the next thing Sora shouted made her smile a little more, because it proved her belief beyond a shadow of a doubt.

"Command Style: Rhythm Mixer," Sora shouted loudly, and cries were punctuated by a sudden pulse of an electric beat while his new aura settled into place. When he realized that it had actually worked, Sora could not help but pause to look himself over for a minute and take in the feeling of using a Tier Two Command Style for the first time, and judging by the grin on his face, it felt really, _really_ good. Sora then turned to see that the Heartless seemed to still be stunned by his sudden change, and he grinned a little more at the fact that the dark creatures had unknowingly given him the perfect opening.

Faster than you could blink, Sora rushed at the Heartless and began to attack them with a speed that was likely on par with if not faster than that of his Destiny Blaze Command Style, and with every attack he unleashed, a rhythmic sound seemed to follow and damage the enemies he targeted even more. When an Assault Rider finally snapped out of its daze and made to charge him, Sora reacted on instinct alone and created four large cubes with a wave of his Keyblade, and those same cubes soon exploded in the centaur Heartless's face, knocking it back into a couple of Nightwalkers before it was destroyed. He had to pause and glance at his Keyblade for a minute in surprise for that unexpected move, but a few seconds later, he was grinning widely again and repeating that same action in order to take down a large group of Shadows and Soldiers, giving the girls an opening to attack, which they immediately took. Seeing that all three of their targets were now on the offensive again, the Heartless scrambled to do something, but their efforts only succeeded in hastening their destruction, either by Xion's magic and Keyblade, Mulan's sword, or Sora's newest Command Style, which he was enjoying more and more every minute.

Eventually, the number of Heartless had dwindled to a measly few, and Sora could feel that his newest power had reached its ultimate peak, so he saw no reason to not end things in style. With that in mind, Sora jumped into the middle of the remaining Heartless, and raised his Keyblade high as he shouted, "Command Style: Rhythm Mixer Finisher!"

Instantly, a large music set seemed to appear around Sora's position, while the Keybearer himself vanished into the ground. Before the Heartless or the girls could start looking around in an attempt to find Sora, the music set began letting out several beats and tones, damaging every Heartless with the sound waves that were created. When the three circles of the music set suddenly slid together, one final note was struck, and a powerful shockwave was immediately released to signal Sora's reappearance, and the total destruction of all remaining Heartless. Glancing around the room in both study and admiration of his handy work, Sora could not help but smile a bit more when he realized that his last move had gotten rid of the last Heartless, and he felt that it was finally okay for everyone to relax, so he had no problem dismissing his Keyblade after a few seconds.

That did not mean he was prepared for when Xion suddenly tackled him in a surprise hug, still smiling brightly at what Sora had managed to pull off. "Sora, you did it," the former Nobody cheered. "You activated a Tier Two Command Style, and you were awesome every second you were using it!"

"Well what did you expect? I always manage to pull something off in an awesome way sooner or later," Sora informed her in a moment of false boasting. At least, Xion assumed he was not actually boasting, but then again, there could have been at least a small amount of an inflated ego in his statement. She was willing to let him have it, though, seeing as he did have a right to brag right now. Plus, there was also the fact that he turned it around and started praising her and their friend in turn a moment later. "Don't sell yourselves short though, Xion. You and Ping were pretty amazing too."

"Thanks Sora," Mulan smiled in return, while Xion just nodded with a grin after releasing Sora from her hug. Just before Xion was going to say something to Mulan as well, the three all heard Ventus and Roxas calling out to them, and they turned to see the two blondes running back into the cave, proving that the battlefield barrier had been removed after they defeated the last Heartless.

"Are you all okay," Ventus asked.

"Yeah, thanks to Xion and Ping," Sora confirmed with an easy-going smile while resting his hands behind his head.

"What do you mean thanks to us? Sure, Mulan did save my neck a few times back there, but you were the one who landed the final blow using Rhythm Mixer's finisher," Xion corrected, her smile still holding fast.

"Wait! You used Rhythm Mixer," Ventus cut in before any kind of argument could begin. "You actually activated and unleashed the full power of a Tier Two Command Style?"

"And dominated the last half of the fight while he did," Xion confirmed before Sora could try and say anything in an attempt to be modest.

Ventus was silent for a few minutes after hearing that, until finally, he let out a groan of misery that had caught them all by surprise. "What's the matter," Sora asked. "I thought you'd be happy that I managed to do it?"

"And I am. Really, this is great news," Ventus reassured Sora. "But I was hoping to be there and see it when my first apprentice activated a Tier Two Command Style for the first time."

That got a bit of laughter out of the three Keyblade apprentices, each amused by how Ven was acting like a parent that had missed seeing their child take their first steps, and eventually, even Ventus had to laugh a little at how he was acting. Yes, he was disappointed that he missed such a monumental moment in Sora's training to become a Keyblade master, but he was still happy that Sora had managed to reach that next step regardless. They went back to business soon after when Sora asked, "So, did you guys catch whoever had set that trap?"

"No," Roxas sighed with a shake of his head. "We know that he had been in the cave and we caught a glimpse of him before he left, but by the time we had gotten outside, he seemed to have just vanished into thin air."

"Still, I'm pretty sure that whoever it was, it had to have been Shan-Yu. Don't ask me how he figured out how to create a battlefield barrier, but I just know it was him," Ventus informed them.

"Well, his trap failed, so all we can do now is go and report to the captain how that old-news-Hun tried to trap us down here with thousands of Heartless, only to have them all taken out by Ping, here," Mushu determined. He knew that was not entirely true, but then again, they were doing whatever they could to show Shang that Mulan deserved to be a soldier as much as the rest of his troops, so what would harm could a little white lie be.

While the others seemed to think that Mushu's idea was a good one, something about the dragon's words did not sit right with Ventus, and it made him stop and think for a few minutes. "Something doesn't feel right about this," the blonde master suddenly muttered.

"What do you mean," Mulan asked, not really getting it.

Roxas seemed to catch on pretty quick though, and was happy to help Ven point out the problem with this scenario. "If Shan-Yu really does have control of the Heartless, then why didn't he send something a little more dangerous to try and destroy us? More importantly, if he could create a battlefield barrier like that, then why didn't he do it the minute we had all walked into the cave instead of waiting until it was just you, Xion, and Sora who were in here?"

"He has a point," Xion agreed, seeing the point that the two were making. "If the objective of the trap was to get rid of us, he could've sent a lot some Heartless that were a lot more powerful, but the most dangerous of the ones we fought were the Assault Riders, and there weren't even that many of them for most of the fight."

"Unless…this wasn't meant to get rid of anyone," Sora finished. "Maybe, this was all just a way to keep us out of the way."

"Out of the way of what," Mushu asked, but the answer quickly came down on them all like a ton of bricks, and they did not like it at all.

"THE VILLAGE," the four Keybearers all shouted as one, with Mulan only gasping in worry.

"We've got to get back there! Now," Ventus determined, even as he had spun around and started racing out of the cave as fast as he could without the use of any of his magic powers.

No one needed to be told twice, because they were all speeding out of the cave, hoping against hope that they were not already too late, but they all had a feeling that wish would not be granted.

* * *

They were too late. By the time the five friends had made it back, the village had already been burnt to the ground and some of the fires were still burning. They did not even see a single sign of the other soldiers or Donald and Goofy, but none of them were willing to think that they were all dead, so they quickly set to work trying to find any survivors. Thankfully, it did not take too long to find Donald and Goofy, but the two were pretty banged up, showing that they did not go down without a fight. Luckily a little healing magic from Sora and Ventus, plus a couple of Potions helped fix up the two so they were good as new, and able to help search for other survivors. Xion ended up being the one to find Yao, who had no problem admitting that he was glad to see her, partly because of the fact he was pinned under a heavy beam, and with the stout soldier now freed to help in the search, the others put their focus on trying to find Shang. Not that it took too long to do so, as Mulan spotted the captain by the remains of the bell tower shortly after Xion had found and helped Yao, and Shang did not look like he was doing too well.

"Captain," Mulan called out. Whether anyone noticed that she had used her real voice instead of her false one or not did not seem to matter, given that there was an injured man in need of help.

"Hey, easy there," Ventus cautioned as he watched Shang struggle to stand, using a destroyed wall for support.

"Don't overdo it, Captain," Sora added, already holding out a Potion for Shang to use.

"It's just a scratch," Shang tried to insist, but given his slow movements and pained grunts, it was obvious that he failed to convince anyone of that. His attempts only failed further when he dropped into the snow again, and he likely would have face-planted into the snow had Xion not caught him in time.

"Yeah, that looks like a lot more than a scratch to me, so I suggest you drink the Potion that Sora's offering for you," the young girl stated, her tone indicating that she would not hear any arguments.

Shang just nodded in response, seeing that he was beat, and slowly gulped down the Potion after he had accepted it from Sora. While Shang was drinking the healing liquid, Donald had also set to work using a steady stream of healing magic to help deal with the captain's injuries, much to Shang's gratitude, but there was still something else that they needed to know. "What happened," Ventus asked when he was sure that Shang was well enough.

"An ambush," Shang replied with short breathes. "Shan-Yu and those creatures…the Heartless all just came out of nowhere and attacked. We fought them off as best as we could, but…their numbers were overwhelming, and they just kept coming for every one that we destroyed."

"Captain, the enemy! Where did they go," Mulan asked as she bent down to better look at him in her own inspection of his injuries, just to make sure that they were healing as well as it seemed.

Shang needed to pause for a breath before he finally replied, "They went toward the summit…if they get through there, they'll have a straight shot to the Imperial City."

"Don't worry. We'll stop them," Mulan then promised. She was not sure where this sudden surge of bravery was coming from, and frankly, she did not care. All she knew was that this had all happened because she and the others were not here to help. Sure, there was a chance that it would not have made a difference even if they were here, but that did not make her feel any less responsible.

Apparently the others shared her feelings on that, because Roxas had quietly muttered, "It is kinda our fault that this had happened."

"You mean MY fault," Mushu sadly corrected while he hung his head low in shame.

"No it isn't," Sora insisted. "Shan-Yu and the Heartless are the ones who tricked us into leaving, and they're the ones who did this to the village too."

"Maybe, but you and Ven were the ones who tried to tell us that the whole thing could have been a trap, and we didn't listen," Xion argued. Apparently, she was just as disappointed in them as Mulan, Mushu, and Roxas seemed to be.

"Uh-uh," Donald denied.

"I'll admit, I did think that it might've been a trap, but it's not like I really did too much to stop you. Sure, some inflated egos may have been in play as well, but there are some lessons that everyone can't help but learn the hard way, even if others with more experience try to teach those same lessons before that can happen," Ventus reassured the group. That seemed to raise their spirits a little, and Ventus then pressed on to say, "Besides, like Sora said, Shan-Yu and the Heartless did this, not us, so we're going to be the ones who set things right by stopping them."

Everyone nodded in agreement with that, their resolve strong again after hearing that mini pep talk, and Sora knelt down before Shang and said, "Captain, if you help Yao and the others track down the villagers and any other soldiers, we'll handle this."

Shang could see that he was not going to win this argument either, so he conceded to their arguments and agreed to do as suggested. Just as the team was about to head out, Ventus looked to their resident magician and said, "You stay here too, Donald."

"What?! Why me," Donald demanded.

"Because you're the only one in our group who can use healing magic without a Keyblade, and there could be more injured soldiers that need that kind of help. You'll be of more help here than you would be in the kind of fight I think we'll be getting into," Ventus calmly reasoned.

Donald let out a miserable moan in response to that, but he could see that Ventus had a point, so he did as the Keyblade master asked. With all of that settled, and after making sure that Goofy would be ready and able to fight, the team set out to face off with Shan-Yu and the Heartless, determined to make them pay for they had done here, and to not let them get any closer to the Imperial City than they already had.

* * *

For the longest time, the team did not seem to encounter any Heartless in their pursuit of Shan-Yu, and they all knew to take that as a foreboding sign of what they would face when they finally caught up. When they did finally reach the summit, they quickly came to a stop, knowing that such a large area was the perfect place for an enemy to strike from. They did not spend much time looking, as they soon spotted someone up on the top of the summit. None of them could see who it was from their current distance, but given the dark presence he held, the hawk that had come to rest on his shoulder after it had circled over their heads, and the army of Heartless that had slowly come up from behind him, they all knew in an instant that he could only have been Shan-Yu himself, and it was obvious that he was waiting for them. Obviously, the Hun did not want to take any chances that someone would try to stop him, and he was willing to unleash the full force of his army to ensure his success.

"Prepare for battle, everyone. You can say that you're willing to go down fighting if you want, but let me make one thing clear: no one is allowed to die here today, be it because of the Heartless, or anything else," Ventus ordered, and the team all drew weapons to show they were ready. Even Mulan seemed to be more confident than ever before, as she met the army above them with a determined glare of her own that actually made Xion smile a little bit.

Apparently, seeing his enemies readying themselves for a fight was all that Shan-Yu needed to see before he gave the order to attack, and like that, an avalanche of Heartless came racing down at the heroes, with more forming within their ranks along the way. Most of the Heartless were all small, yellow flying creatures that Jiminy told them were called Rapid Thrusters, while the larger, towering ones were known as Bolt Towers, and there was no denying that these creatures were vicious in their attack. The Rapid Thrusters on their own were not too difficult to deal with, but given how they were constantly swarming at the team in large groups, it was easy for anyone to see why the six were having a hard time with the little creatures. Even Goofy was barely able to keep up a strong defense against the Rapid Thrusters, and given that there was an endless warm of those things around them, it was almost hard to believe that they were making a dent in the enemy ranks.

The bolt towers were another story, as just one brought a great deal of power to the battlefield. So much power that one hit from them was enough to send Roxas flying when he was unfortunate enough to land too close to one. If that was not bad enough, the blonde was soon caught in a beam of electricity that the tower emitted from its head, but thankfully, he was able to power through the pain and used one of his Keyblades to send the beam back to where it came from. The shock from having its attack redirected like that had left the Bolt Tower stunned long enough for Mulan to destroy the beast, and she quickly showed that she was not going to be stopping any time soon when she parried an attack from a Rapid Thruster with her blade. Before another squad of Rapid Thrusters could make a run at the young woman, Xion had managed to jump in and wipe them all out with a single swing of her Keyblade, plus a quick blast of fire magic, just to make sure that no others got any ideas about getting near her friend.

Eventually, Ventus got more than a little annoyed with the enemies overwhelming numbers, and it was at that point that he finally unleashed the power of his Tier Two Command Style, Wingblade in an effort to finis things. With the power of six light swords at his command, Ventus was able to destroy a good chunk of the attacking Heartless, and he was not alone in his assault. Sora had soon joined the barrage of powerful attacks by unleashing his Radiant Blade Shotlock, and once he had powered up that ability to its maximum, several Heartless found themselves being destroyed by the long energy sword that had formed around Sora's Keyblade, or by the aura of light that had surrounded both Sora and his trusted weapon. When the two unleashed the finishing strikes of their respective attacks, barely that many Heartless remained, making it all the more easy for Roxas, Xion, and Mulan to finish things up. For a moment, they thought that it was over, but they quickly realized that Shan-Yu had not joined the fight at any point and turned to see that he was still standing at the top of the summit.

"Looks like that was just the first wave," Ven panted, feeling a little winded after all of that. Not that you could fault him. None of them had ever dealt with so many Heartless at once before, and the last time Ven himself had faced odds that were even a little like that was eleven years ago.

A new, massive line of Rapid Thrusters forming up along either side of Shan-Yu proved Ven's statement to be true, and this time when Shan-Yu let loose a battle cry, he charged alongside all of the Heartless. The team quickly braced themselves for the attack, but just before they could move against the closest Rapid Thrusters, they were all suddenly blasted out of existence by a barrage of lightning that could only have come from a blast of Thundaga. Turning to the source, everyone was relieved to see that Donald had finally joined the action, and had brought Yao, Ling, and Chien Po with him, with the shortest of the three soldiers carrying a canon on his shoulder.

"Stand back," Yao ordered before he planted the cannon into the snow.

"We'll handle this," Ling assured them while drawing his own sword, intending to keep Yao safe while he took aim at Shan-Yu.

Such a shot was going to be really tricky, and considering that they only had one chance to hit him, Mulan was not so sure that it was such a good idea. Just as she was about to mention this, she caught a glimpse of something reflecting off her sword, and she turned her attention towards that very thing. Her eyes immediately settled on the mountain peek high above them, and like that, an idea had formed in her mind that made her smirk a little, even as she holstered her blade in its scabbard. The next thing anyone knew, Mulan had shoved Yao aside, grabbed the cannon, and raced closer towards the enemy.

"Ping, what're you doing?! Come back," Ventus shouted, but Mulan either did not hear him or just did not listen.

"Now's not the time to try and be a hero, Ping," Sora called out.

"STOP," Xion shouted as she started to chase after Mulan, but she stopped short when she saw the older girl plant the cannon in the ground and start pointing it far to high up for it be aimed at any of the enemy forces. When Xion turned her gaze upwards and spotted the peek, her eyes immediately widened in realization of what Mulan was planning. "Oh, she wouldn't," Xion muttered. "Would she?"

At the same time that Xion was wondering this, Mulan had realized that she did not have a flint on her to ignite the cannon, and no matter where she looked, be it on her person, or her surroundings, she could not find anything that she could use as such. That is, until her eyes landed on a certain guardian of hers. "Wha…" Mushu asked when he noticed the way Mulan was looking at him, and he quickly started to scramble away when he figured out what she was thinking. "Hey, hey! Wait a second!" The dragon was not quick enough to get away though, as he was soon snatched up by Mulan, who then pulled on his tail so that he would use his fire breath to light the cannon, and the minute she released her hold on him, Mushu had jumped up onto the cannon's head without even thinking about it, not noticing how Mulan was holding the cannon steady so that it would fly straight and true to her target until the canon had gone off, sending him flying towards the peek with the rocket when it did. "YOU'RE GOING THE WRONG WAY!"

Mulan had to disagree with Mushu's words as he flew off, because the canon had struck the peek just as she had intended, and she could only smirk for a moment as the massive amounts of snow and ice began to crumble and fall down the peek in a full blown avalanche of her own making. "Yes," Mulan eventually cheered to herself, but the others did not seem to share her excitement.

"She would," Xion whispered as her shoulders drooped.

"She _did_ ," Roxas corrected in a voice that was barely more than a squeak.

"You're crazy," Ventus groaned loudly at the disguised woman.

Sora was about to give his own voice of agreement when he turned and saw someone coming up the ridge to join them, and he could hardly believe who it was. "Captain?"

"No wait! Turn around," Donald shouted, but it did not seem like Shang heard him. Mulan did, and when she saw where Shang was, she immediately panicked, knowing that he would be caught in the avalanche if someone did not act fast.

"LOOK OUT," Mulan shouted as she rushed over to Shang without even thinking, all while the avalanche she caused came thundering closer to them, sweeping up all the Heartless and Shan-Yu as it came, despite their attempts to get away.

"WHOOOOOOAAAAAAAA," Yao, Ling, and Chien Po all screamed while they ran for cover behind an outcropping of rocks, with Donald and Goofy right behind them.

Unfortunately for the four Keybearers, they had all gotten too far out to reach any cover in time, and Ventus knew that there was likely only one way that they could survive being buried alive underneath all that snow. "Sora, Roxas, Xion! On me, and stay close," Ventus shouted, and like clockwork, the three were all huddling around their master while he raised his Keyblade high into the air as he shouted a single word. "REFLEGA!"

In an instant, a sphere of light had encompassed the four Keyblade wielders, and one could hear the muffled sounds of Ventus adding another bit of magic into the barrier just before the avalanche passed over them. All that had gone unnoticed by Mulan as she was more focused on getting Shang out of the way, as the captain soon found out when she grabbed his hand and pulled him towards safety as fast as she could. The two had to make a huge leap at the last second, but thankfully, they managed to get behind cover that saved them from the avalanche. That did not stop them from panting heavily in order to get their breath back from the sudden rush of excitement that they had just had to endure. After another moment or two, Shang could not help but turn to Mulan, realizing what she had done, and he had to smile at her when he did.

"Thanks, Ping," Shang panted.

"It…was nothing," Mulan replied, this time making absolutely sure that she was using her deep voice. She then turned to see the others were approaching them, some of them grinning at her with praising eyes, but that all vanished from her notice when she realized that there were four people missing. "Sora! Ven! Xion and Roxas! Where are they?!"

"I thought they were with you," Goofy worriedly admitted while Donald started looking every which way for their friends.

Everyone was about to spread out and try to find the four Keybearers when Chien Po noticed something off about some of the recently fallen snow. "Hey, I think there's something moving over there," the large soldier called out.

Hearing that made everyone turn and start heading in the direction that Chien Po had pointed out, but when they got close enough, they were forced to try and shield themselves with their arms when a small explosion suddenly sent several piles of snow flying in all directions, with some of it already melted into water. When they looked up again, they all smiled in relief at the sight of Ventus, Roxas, Sora, and Xion crawling out of the recently made hole in the snow, each panting heavily while the blonde master of the four looked much more tired than any of the others. "Ping…do us a favor," Ventus panted as he slowly made his way over, finding himself relying on Sora and Roxas for help part of the way there. "Next time…you cause an avalanche…give us a little…more warning please? Using reflect magic and…protective fire magic that powerful is…exhausting!"

"Not to mention how scary the whole thing is, period," Sora gasped as he struggled to keep Ven from falling into the snow. He was just glad that Roxas was helping him; otherwise, he was sure that he would have failed at that by now.

Mulan could only provide a sheepish chuckle in response, but Shang's smile never once faltered, as he admitted, "I should never have doubted you, Ping. From now on, you have my trust."

"Thank you, Captain," Mulan grinned in reply, and just like that, everyone felt like celebrating, with a certain three soldiers leading the cheers.

"Let's hear it for Ping! The bravest of us all," Ling shouted.

"You're king of the mountain," Yao agreed with a pump of his fists.

"Yes! Yes! Way to go," Chien Po cheered.

All cheering came to an end though when Mushu suddenly leapt up out of the snow bank he was buried in, and he was not happy at all. "First she uses me as a lighter, then she turns me into a cannon ball…The head ancestor's gonna hear about this," Mushu grumbled, apparently not realizing who was in the area at the moment, and he did seem like he was going to stop any time soon, much to the dismay of Sora and the others, who were all quietly signaling for Mushu to stop talking. "You know, that's it! I give up! I can't take this no more. C'mon, Mulan. Let's quit this charade and go home, girl."

"Mushu," Mulan whispered to him, but the damage was already done, and Mushu had only just realized it when he finally took note of who was in the area.

"Mulan? A woman? It can't be," Shang tried to deny as he contemplated what he had just heard, but when he turned to her, Mulan could not bring herself to meet his gaze. That alone would have been all the proof that Shang needed, but when he turned to question the group that had brought her to him, he saw that they were hanging their heads in shame as well. "You all knew," Shang realized. "You knew Ping was really a woman in disguise, didn't you?!"

None of the team could bring themselves to answer at first, until Xion took a deep breath and stepped forward to answer in their place. "Yes, we did, but does that really change anything," Xion questioned.

"Yes! It changes everything! You all lied to me," Shang snapped, though it was clear that most of his anger was directed towards Mulan more than the others.

"Don't be mad at her about it! She only did it so she could save her father's life! What would you have done if you were in her place," Xion snapped back. She knew it was not really her place to reveal that detail, but at the moment, she really did not care. All she knew was that her friend was in trouble and she had to stand up for her.

That revelation did give Shang pause, and he was not entirely sure what to say in response to Xion's words. Instead, he silently looked to Mulan, asking her if what Xion said was true with his eyes, and when Mulan only gave him a sad look in response, he had his answer. Upon reaching his conclusion, Shang turned and marched away from the group, only stopping when he was a few feet away with his back still facing them as he spoke. "The punishment for high treason and dishonoring the Army…is death."

"WHAT," the boys of the team all shouted in disbelief, while Xion's eyes had turned into saucers. This was the first time that they had heard of that! While Mulan seemed just as shocked by the news, it was not to the same extent as the rest of them, and she even seemed like she was starting to lower herself to the ground in preparation for her punishment a moment later, until Shang spoke up again.

"Get out of my sight, now. You're all dismissed," Shang ordered. He then fell silent for a few seconds before he stated in finality, "My debt is repaid."

At that point, Mulan finally did sink to the ground, only this time it was in sorrow, while the others just watched as Shang and the other soldiers all marched away to the Imperial City where the Emperor would be waiting for them. When the others came to stand beside her, they could all feel her pain at the moment, but only Xion seemed brave enough to reach out and offer some form of comfort by placing a hand on Mulan's shoulder. Even that did not seem to do much though, and if anyone was feeling more upset about this than Mulan at the moment, it would have had to have been Mushu.

"Mulan…I blew it," Mushu sadly said in apology, his eyes close to shedding some tears on the girl's behalf.

* * *

After letting her stew in sadness for a few more minutes, the team all moved a fair distance away so that Mulan could change out of her armor and into something much more comfortable. She did not really see any need to keep wearing it now that her disguise was broken wide open, and she doubted that her father would want his armor back any time soon after all that had happened while she was wearing it. Out of everything in her disguise, the one thing that Mulan was especially happy about was that she could finally let her hair fall free of the topknot she had to keep it in from the moment she had started this whole thing. It had pained her a little to have cut it when she had first made this decision, but she was glad that it was now much shorter than it had been before. To be honest, she actually liked having hair that only reached down to her shoulders as opposed to how it reached her back before. Still, despite the relief it gave her, it did nothing to relieve her of the sadness she felt at how things had turned out.

Before she could descend into another round of sorrow after comfortably settling into the grey and green martial arts attire she had been wearing underneath for so long now, she heard soft footsteps approaching, and she turned to see a very worried Xion slowly coming over to her. Mulan had immediately turned away from the girl, not really wanting to face Xion at the moment, before she bitterly muttered, "I guess you're happy to see that my little ruse is finally broken, huh?"

"What gave you that idea," Xion questioned as she came to stand beside Mulan. She did not sit down next to her just yet because she was sure that Mulan was likely going to tell her to go away at any moment after hearing that statement.

"You don't have to pretend. I know that you hated what I was doing from the start. It wasn't exactly a big secret," Mulan pointed out. When she did not hear or see any form of denial or confirmation from the younger girl, Mulan just carried on. "I get that where you come from, things are different, and you can be whatever or whoever you want whether you're a boy or a girl, but here…it's just not the same. No one's going to just break tradition like I did without expecting to be killed for it. Part of me actually wishes that Shang did execute me for what I did. It would be better than living with this feeling of shame." She then went quiet, knowing that she had probably frightened Xion a little with that last bit, before she muttered, "To be honest…I wish that I could be at least half as brave as you are, Xion. You're a warrior in more ways than I could ever dream of being."

At that point, Xion finally deemed it safe enough to sit down alongside Mulan, feeling that she could not let Mulan think like that for so much as one more second. "You're wrong about that," Xion refuted. "I'm not as strong or brave as you think I am. For a long time, I was scared about a lot of things, and the only reason I even seem a little brave now would be because I've had Roxas, Ven, and all the others by my side no matter how tough things got. Besides, you shouldn't be so hard on yourself. You did do all of this to save your dad, after all, and any parent would have to be crazy to not appreciate their child looking out for them like that, no matter what any traditions may say."

Mulan could not help but smile a little for what Xion was trying to say, before a contemplative look fell onto her face. "Maybe I didn't go for my father," Mulan wondered. "Maybe what I really wanted was…to prove I could do something right. So when I looked in the mirror, I'd see someone worthwhile." As she finished saying that, Mulan had picked up her helmet so that she could gaze at her reflection, but doing so only seemed to bring tears to her eyes and bitterness to her voice. "But I was wrong. I see nothing."

Xion could not help but jump a little when Mulan threw the helmet aside in disgust, and then looked on as the Chinese woman curled up into a ball so she could cry a little more. When she turned to see her own reflection in the helmet, Xion knew that she could not let Mulan think anything like that for another minute, and she knew just what she had to say in order to raise Mulan's spirits at least a little. "You're not the only one who's ever had that problem," Xion admitted. "The truth is we're both frauds in a way. I'm not actually Sora's sister, or even Roxas's. Hell, the only reason I can at least come close to believing that is because they both see me as such. The only reasons we can even be called related is because of…well, it's a little too complicated for me to explain it in a way that you could probably understand. I can't really say that I understand all of it most of the time. Before I even met Ventus or Sora, Roxas and I were part of a really dangerous group, and we did a lot of things for them that we're not proud of."

"So why did you stay with them," Mulan asked. She had no problem keeping quiet for the duration of the story, but she was curious.

"We didn't have anywhere else to go, and…I guess we felt like we owed those people for at least giving us a roof over our heads, no matter what we had to do for them," Xion shrugged, not really knowing what else she could say that would be believable for Mulan. "The entire time I was there though, no one ever really saw me as Xion. To them, I was always just a puppet, a tool that broke every now and then, or some other person that they knew, either from their past or from something else. It didn't really matter to me so long as I managed to do a good job in whatever job they gave me, and I just wanted to make them see that I was worth keeping around. I guess that's the real reason why I was angry with you. It wasn't just your country's traditions; it was also the fact that seeing you do all of this reminded me of who I was at that time. I would probably still be that way if Ven had never found me and Roxas, and saved us from that group so that we could join him and Sora." She then smiled a little as she said, "At least when you were doing this it was actually for the sake of family."

Mulan smiled a little in response to Xion's last statement, showing she appreciated the sentiment, but it did not stop there, because after another second or so, she slowly wrapped Xion in a tight hug, and the girl was happy to return it in full. "Thank you, Xion," Mulan whispered.

"Hey, don't worry about it. I couldn't let one of my friends feel like she was alone in her troubles," Xion shrugged in reply, trying to sound modest, but she was sure that Mulan saw right through her. After another minute or two, the girls released one another and Xion happily helped Mulan stand up again, seeing that the girl was definitely doing a lot better. "Ready to face the boys again," she asked with a small, slightly teasing grin.

Mulan could only laugh with the smallest of small giggles before she nodded and followed Xion back over to the boys. She had to pause for a minute and glance down at the sword she had been fighting with before she ultimately turned away from it, not willing to take it anywhere with her anytime soon. After seeing the blade though, she felt like she had to struggle a little when she put on a smile for the sake of the others. "Thank you, everyone," Mulan told the group. "Sorry I got you in trouble."

"It's no big deal," Sora shrugged.

"Yeah, some of us have gotten pretty used to getting into some kind of trouble by now," Ventus reassured her while he rested his arms behind his head.

"But next time, how about giving us a little more warning about whether or not doing so would come with a death penalty," Roxas attempted to joke, but he only earned himself some reproachful looks from the others. "Too soon?"

"Yes," Donald snapped while Goofy just shook his head in disapproval.

Sora then cleared his throat in an attempt to get the attention off Roxas's bad sense of timing and asked, "So Ping…I mean, uh, Mulan…what're you gonna do now?"

"Go back home," Mulan replied as she turned to start heading for that very place. "I'll have to face my father eventually."

"Yeah, you know he's gonna be steamed as a chicken dumpling," Mushu cautioned as he began to walk beside her.

Hearing that seemed to bring down Mulan's mood a little, until Xion suddenly stepped forward to place an arm around her shoulder. Not an easy feat, given that she was a bit shorter than Mulan, but Xion still managed somehow, and the girl happily said, "Relax. You won't have to face him alone. I'll take a share of the blame too."

"The same goes for me," Roxas promised, earning him a surprised look from the girls. "What? Did you really think I was going to let Xion get in trouble when I'm just as much at fault as she is?"

"Hey, don't think it stops with you two," Sora pointed out as he threw an arm around Donald and Goofy. "We'll all take our share of the blame."

When Ventus nodded in agreement with this, Mulan finally found herself smiling for real as she replied, "Thanks. You're all wonderful friends."

"And don't you forget it," Xion told her, and with that, the group set out for Mulan's home, ready for whatever trouble they may face when they met Fa Zhou.

They had barely gone that far away from the summit when they all suddenly heard a loud, angry yell echoing through the mountains that made them all jump a little before coming to a complete stop. "What in the world was that," Goofy asked, sounding just as scared as he looked.

Roxas turned towards the ridge and found a sneaking suspicion slipping into his mind as just what could have made that noise. He prayed that he was wrong, but when he finally came to look over the ridge to an area further down the mountain, he learned that his prayers were going to be left unanswered, because he was right on the money. "Uh, guys," Roxas called out. "Do you want good news or bad news?"

"I think I speak for everyone when I say we would prefer good," Ventus informed his younger look-a-like.

"In that case, if you don't look over this ledge at what's below us then you won't get any bad news," Roxas informed them, his tone showing that he was entirely serious.

Now that Roxas had said that, everyone was curious, so it was only natural that they did not heed his warning and came to look down to see what he had. They instantly regretted it a little when they did, because there, down in the small valley below where most of the snow and ice from the avalanche had landed, were a massive number of Heartless, most of them being Rapid Thrusters, and leading them was a very familiar Hun with his faithful hawk resting on his shoulder. "Shan-Yu," Ventus gasped.

"He's alive," Sora exclaimed in disbelief. "How could anyone have survived that?!"

"Maybe the Heartless gave him a little boost in strength or something," Xion shrugged.

"I doubt it. The Heartless devour hearts so that others can fall into darkness and become Heartless as well. If anything, they would've let Shan-Yu perish on the chance that he would become a Heartless," Ventus disputed.

"Does it matter? He's heading for the Imperial City," Roxas pointed out, and everyone knew that he was right.

What none of them were expecting was for Mulan to suddenly race over to where her sword laid in the snow, and then scoop up the blade and slide it into its sheath before tying it onto her sash. Even before the girl had turned to chase after Shan-Yu, Mushu had a hunch what she was doing, and he was not too eager to follow her in that plan. "Uh, home is _that_ way," the little dragon reminded his friend while he pointed in the direction they had just been going.

"I have to do something," Mulan insisted, clearly not planning to head home now.

"Did you see that Hun? Or those Heartless? They all popped out of the snow! Like daisies," Mushu pointed out, making sure he was clear on how freaked out he was.

"Doesn't matter. We've got to go after them and at least warn Shang and the others," Xion informed the dragon as she came to stand beside Mulan. The two girls both exchanged a smile with one another to show how glad they each were to have each other's backs, and they were soon learning that they were not the only ones willing to do this.

"I'm with you two on that," Roxas agreed. "Besides, last I checked, it was part of our job to stop monsters like the Heartless from hurting innocent people. Can't really call ourselves Keyblade wielders if we ignored this, can we?"

"No you can't, and we're not gonna let you go after them alone, either," Donald agreed.

"Me and Donald are with ya on this to the end," Goofy nodded along, knowing that the magician was mostly referring to him when he had said "we".

Sora nodded in agreement with that before turning to Mushu and saying, "Mushu, you're supposed to be a mighty dragon and one of Mulan's family guardians. You're not really going to let your friends and a member of that family face this alone, are you?"

Mushu looked between his friends for a few minutes, and when he came to rest his gaze on Ventus, seeing the blonde master was just as determined as the rest of them, he sighed and decided that he should at least point out one last flaw in their plan. "We're never gonna make it there in time, you know," the dragon pointed out. "Shan-Yu's already got a head start, and it'll take a miracle for us to beat him there so we can warn Captain Musclehead in time."

"Not if we fly there," Sora grinned in excitement, earning him confused looks from the others.

"Uh Sora, I don't know if you've noticed this, but I'm not one those dragons that can fly, and even if I was, I would never be able to carry all of you," Mushu disputed while looking at Sora like the boy had either lost his mind or had just forgotten something that should have been obvious.

"I never said you would fly us there, Mushu. All we really need is a little faith, trust, and pixie dust," Sora revealed.

Now everyone was even more confused, but Roxas quickly caught on to what Sora was suggesting when his brother's words fully registered in his mind, and he was soon grinning as much as Sora was. "You want Ven to use his summon charm for Tinker Bell," Roxas explained for everyone.

"Exactly," Sora confirmed with a nod, not noticing how Ven had suddenly started to look a little uneasy while Xion quietly explained to Mulan who Tinker Bell was. "With her magic, we'll be able to beat Shan-Yu there in no time."

"Um, yeah, about that…" Ventus started to say, getting the attention of his world traveling companions. When he could not think of any way to really break it gently to his apprentice, Ven finally said, "Sora, you might want to check on your summon charms real quick."

Sora was confused as to why Ven was asking him to do that when the blonde was the one who carried the charm that they needed, but he still decided to humor Ven anyway, and immediately pulled out the requested charms with a shrug. "Well, here they are. The charms for Genie, Mushu, and our friendly neighborhood…" Sora started to say when all of a sudden, the charms in his hand began to loudly crack apart. A moment later, they were all watching in confusion as two of the charms completely broke apart and dispersed into faint sparkles of light, while the last one, namely Genie's, just turned black as ash with cracks running all through it. "What? I don't…what just happened?"

"The same thing that happened to my charms a short while ago," Ventus revealed, pulling out his charm for Tinker Bell as he did, and allowing them all to see that the charm was just like Sora's charm for summoning Genie. "Sora, most of the summon charms we gathered on our last journey contained the spirit of someone with a strong heart who had lost their home, and that was the whole reason why they became a charm instead of disappearing along with said home. But when we defeated Xehanort's Heartless, those places were all restored along with the people who lived there including the ones who had become summon charms. So without those people's essence, the charms were completely useless, and were nothing more than simple trinkets that would one day just fade away into dust."

"Oh…right," Sora sighed in despair. He had never once thought about that detail since defeating Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, or even after he had woken up. Maybe it had crossed his mind at some point after they had arrived on this world and met Mushu, but it was not long enough for him to think about it too much. Glancing down at Genie's summon charm again, he then asked, "Well then what about this one? Or Tinker Bell's? They were given to us by the people themselves, so why are they all broken apart like this?"

"In your case, it's most likely because of how your magic had regressed so much due to your year-long nap," Ventus explained. "The summon charms always draw on a small bit of magic energy from their holder in order to remain active. Not enough for you to be concerned about or to really notice, but still enough so that the enchantments remain there. Since your powers were weakened, any magic that was needed for Genie's charm was reverted into you, and the charm had ultimately become…dead, for lack of a better word."

"And in your case," Xion prompted.

"Even with its existing enchantments, I needed to make absolutely sure that my armor would keep me from being noticed or seen by the Organization while I kept you all safe, so I had to concentrate as much magic as I could into those enchantments for that purpose. I didn't really like doing it, but that meant I had to use the magic in Tink's summon charm to supplement my armor's magic," Ventus revealed.

"So then that plan's out," Sora sighed in despair. It was a good plan, but without the summon charms it was also one that they could not realistically act upon.

"If only we had some horses, or a carriage, or even a glider or a sled right now," Mulan groused in thought, knowing that any of those would be a huge help right now.

"Glider or sled," Ventus quietly repeated, and a minute later, everyone could not help but watch as Ven started to smile so widely you would think his face was going to split apart. "That's it! Mulan, you're a genius!" Before anyone could ask Ven why he said that, the blonde looked to his first apprentice and said, "Sora, time for another crash course lesson, and this time, I'm teaching you something I know you've been dying to learn for ages."

"Really? I don't think now's the best time for that," Sora started to argue, but he quickly shut himself up when Ven told him what he was learning.

"So you don't want to learn how to summon a Keyblade Glider," Ventus questioned in a knowing tone.

"No, I do! I do, I do, I do, I do! Please teach me now," Sora rapidly pleaded.

"Hey, what about us," Xion asked as she indicated herself and Roxas.

"You're going to have to wait a little while longer before you're ready to summon yours for the first time," Ventus informed her. When he saw looks of disappointment cross the two's faces, he quickly sighed and said, "Learn your Unique Tier One Command Styles, or discover at least two of your personal Shotlocks, and I'll happily let you both try to summon the gliders."

"Yes," the twins quietly cheered with a fist-pump and a high-five, earning them amused smiles from the others.

Ventus then turned his attention back to Sora, and said, "Summoning your Keyblade Glider, while one of the easier abilities, is also one of the hardest to perform, at least the first time. However, after you successfully do it the first time, you shouldn't have any trouble repeating the process as though it were as easy as walking." He then summoned Guardian Wind into his hand, and drew it back as he continued, "When you're doing so, try to imagine something that gives you a sense of freedom, or maybe think about the feeling you get when you're using Glide or flying in Neverland. Imagine the wind blowing in your face and hair, the sense of ease you get from suddenly becoming weightless, and then, imagine that the Keyblade has become a pair of wings beginning to spread and take you off into the clouds that await you." In a final act of demonstration, Ven tossed his Keyblade high into the air, and the others all watched as it transformed into winged waveboard that Ventus quickly leapt on top of after somersaulting in the air a little. "And then, the rest is just the magic coming to life."

Sora nodded in response and quickly summoned Kingdom Key into his hand while closing his eyes. He did exactly as Ven had instructed, imagining the feeling of weightlessness he had gained the first time he flew in Neverland. It did not stop there though, because he knew that he would need more than that when Ven suggested something that gave him a sense of freedom, and his mind was quick to think of all the times he had been sailing out of the oceans of his home world. For an islander like Sora, there was no greater feeling than being out on the open water, commanding a vessel as you sailed the seas in search of adventure, free to discover all kinds of treasures and new lands, and it was all the better when you had good friends to join in on the fun of that adventure. Upon imagining his Keyblade becoming a set of wings to carry him away, Sora tossed the Kingdom Key as high as he could, and the others all watched with baited breaths. For a moment, nothing seemed to happen, until finally, the Keyblade disappeared in a flash of light, and came racing back down in the form of a silver flying motorcycle with yellow hightlights and a pair of extensions at the front that indicated it had some long-range firepower in it. Upon opening his eyes and seeing he had succeeded, Sora grinned and immediately hopped aboard his new vehicle before he gunned its engine a little and spun around in the air for a minute as if to show off.

"Now this is awesome," Sora cheered.

"Not bad," Roxas agreed. "But I kinda like Ven's better."

"You're just saying that because it makes you think about your old skateboard from back in Twilight Town," Xion accused. When Roxas just gave her a small look in response, she ended up shrugging and saying, "Okay, yeah, so I'm the same way, too."

The others all chuckled a bit at hearing this, until Mulan realized they still had a small problem. "Are we all going to be able to fit on either of those things?"

"Nope, but we're not going to try and fit everyone on board," Ven replied. "Donald, you're with me. Roxas, ride with Sora." He then looked at Goofy with a smirk and said, "Goofy, remember that story you told me about what you and your son used to love doing whenever it snowed?"

Goofy tilted his head in confusion for a minute before his eyes lit up in recognition and he replied, "Oh, I gotcha!" He then summoned out his shield, used a little bit of magic on it to make it bigger, and then dropped down on the snow and saying, "Ladies, your sleigh awaits."

"You're kidding, right," Xion asked in disbelief.

"Don't worry. It's perfectly safe. Me and my boy, Maxie used to do this all the time whenever there was a snow day at Disney Town," Goofy reassured them.

The girls looked to each other for a minute until they finally just shrugged and hopped onto the shield, with Goofy ready to push off. When the other two had settled into place behind the drivers of their rides, Mulan gave Mushu one final look and asked, "Are we all in this together, or not?"

Mushu glanced over his friends one more time, just to confirm that they were all dedicated to this idea, before he finally grinned and declared, "Ah, let's go kick some hunny-bun!"

With that, Mushu had leapt up onto Mulan's shoulder, and the team was blasting off, with Goofy hopping onto the back of the make-shift shield once he had given a hard enough push to send him and his fellow riders racing down the snowy slopes, while Sora and Ven kicked their Keyblade Gliders into overdrive, all of them racing towards the same destination in the hope of beating Shan-Yu there, or at least getting there soon enough to warn Shang and his men.

* * *

The team made great time in their respective methods of travel. Even after they had gone past the area where snow had covered the ground, Goofy had continued to keep his shield-sled going with a little of his own magic, and as such, he, Mushu, and the girls had made it to the Imperial City just minutes behind the rest of the group. They went the rest of the way to the palace on foot, though, since Ven felt it would be better for him and Sora to not risk freaking anyone out over the sight of people flying on strange vehicles, but even so, they still managed to catch up with Shang and his men pretty quickly. Of course, they had to wrestle their way through a large crowd of people who had gathered to celebrate their supposed victory over the Hun army, and the defeat of Shan-Yu, so by the time that they had managed to reach Shang, or at least get within hearing distance of him, the soldiers had already arrived in the palace courtyard. As they passed a few of Shang's men, Ventus and Sora could not help but notice that there was something very peculiar about the way some of them were walking, but they put it aside in favor of alerting Shang to the approaching threat.

"Shang! Shang, wait," Mulan shouted out, and apparently, the surprise of hearing her voice was what made the captain stop in his march to the palace. Whether that was out of disbelief she was actually here or some other reason, Mulan really did not care, because right now, Shang needed to hear what she had to say. "Shan-Yu is alive! He's headed this way!"

"And why should I believe you this time," Shang questioned, clearly still upset over Mulan's earlier deceit.

His question turned out to be the wrong thing to say, because the next thing he knew, he was being grabbed by the front of his cape, and pulled down to eye-level with a very irate Xion. "Listen, you muscle-headed, uptight, pig-headed idiot," Xion snapped, frightening everyone a little with both her words and how much anger there was in her voice. "Maybe if you get over yourself and got that pole out of your ass for five minutes, you'd be able to see that she's telling you the truth! Why is that so hard to believe? Because she's a girl? Big deal! You said you trusted Ping, so why is Mulan any different? Oh, is it because she lied about being a man? Well maybe if your country wasn't so backwards in thinking that girls can't fight, she wouldn't have even HAD to disguise herself in the first place! She's not here for some selfish reason to prove herself, and to be quite frank, none of us had to come here, either. The only reason we are here is because we're trying to save your ungrateful life, your emperor's life, your troops' lives, and the lives of everyone else in this city because it turns out that the guy we all thought had bitten the dust is still alive and now likely somewhere here in the city right this second!"

"Okay, easy Xion! That's enough. I think we get the point," Ventus attempted to reassure the girl while pulling her back a little and helping Shang relinquish her hold on his cape. At the same time, everyone else could only stare in disbelief at how viciously Xion had torn the captain a new one, and while some of them may have thought she was crazy for doing so, others were of a different opinion.

"Remind me again why I wanted to fight her when we first met," Yao asked his buddies, both impressed and slightly scared of the angry girl, who was still glaring at the captain.

"I don't know, but you have to admit, she has got some serious attitude," Ling mused in what sounded like approval.

"And she's very strong too. After all, not just anyone can take on the captain and win," Chien Po reminded the two.

The boys of Xion's group could only smile after overhearing the three soldiers' conversation, but they put that aside for later, because right now, they had people to save. "Whether you believe her or not, Captain, it is the truth, and despite the harshness of her words, Xion does have a point," Ventus informed Shang.

Donald then happened to glance up in an attempt to think of some way to prove they were being honest, when he spotted the answer flying above them, and squawked, "And there's your proof up there!"

Everyone immediately turned their eyes towards the sky, and gasped at seeing Shan-Yu's faithful hawk circling overhead. They likely would have started searching the area for any sign of the bird's master right after, had Roxas not shouted, "No, there's his proof over there! On top of that building!"

Turning to where Roxas was pointing, everyone gasped once again at seeing Shan-Yu himself perched atop one of the palace towers, and when he saw that the Imperial Army and the team of world adventurers were all gazing up at him, he could only grin savagely before he dropped down to some point that was likely inside of the palace. That drove Shang into action, and he quickly shouted, "Guard the palace! Do not let the enemy get anywhere near the Emperor!" When he saw that only Yao, Ling, and Chien Po were carrying out his orders, he immediately turned to the rest of the troops to see them just limping along like they had not heard him, and added, "That's an order!"

The remaining soldiers just continued as they were until suddenly a powerful gust of wind blasted several of them away from Shang, much to his surprise, and Ventus then came out in front of him with his Keyblade at the ready, while he shouted, "Those aren't soldiers!"

A minute later, the soldiers all became awash with shadows and transformed to reveal themselves as Nightwalkers in disguise, much to Shang's horror. In response to the sudden transformation, Mulan and the others all quickly came to stand in front of Shang, weapons drawn, as Sora stated, "Captain, we'll secure the courtyard, and you can save the Emperor."

When Shang hesitated to take action, Donald turned to the man himself and quacked, "That's an order!"

Shang then nodded in response, both as a sign of thanks and agreement, and finally turned to join the rest of his actual troops in rescuing the ruler of China. The minute that Shang was gone, the team set to work clearing the Heartless out of the courtyard. It was a relatively short fight, but it was still long enough for everyone to see that Mulan was now doing much better since she was no longer being weighed down by her armor. Her attacks were faster, swifter, and had much more accuracy than before, and with Mushu at her side, they also came with a little more literal fire as well. At some point during the fight, Ven and Xion also noticed that Mulan had even gone so far as to switch to using a reverse-grip on her sword like they did, and the two could not help but grin a little at seeing that another person had joined their club. All-in-all, Mulan was definitely proving to be a much better fighter as herself than she ever did as Ping, and if you were to ask Xion, a big reason for it was because Mulan was no longer held back by any lies or deceptions, so there was nothing weighing her down from giving it everything that _she_ had.

In no time at all, the team had cleared out the courtyard of all Heartless, and they immediately turned to the palace so they could help Shang and the others in saving the Emperor. They had just reached the main gates of the palace when they saw the Hun himself standing beside an older man in elegant robes with a long white beard and mustache who could only have been the Emperor himself, and they all quickly skidded to halt knowing that any wrong moves could likely place China's ruler in danger. "Your walls and armies have all fallen," Shan-Yu snarled in triumph. "And now it's your turn. Bow to me."

The Emperor did no such thing, but instead, maintained a calm, assured posture, and replied, "No matter how the wind howls, a mountain cannot bow to it."

While the team was impressed with the Emperor's bravery, Shan-Yu was decidedly much more enraged by it. "Then you will kneel…in pieces!"

Just as Shan-Yu was about to draw his sword back in an attempt to kill the Emperor, Shang dropped in from out of nowhere, and intercepted the Hun's sword with his own. His next course of action saw Shang releasing his right hand's grip on the sword in order to deliver a palm strike into Shan-Yu's chin, and then shoulder jacking him away from the Emperor. Seeing the opening that gave him, Ventus quickly cast an ice spell in order to create a trail of ice that went past the Emperor, and then jumped right onto it using Flowmotion. With that added magic, Ventus was able to speed right over the older man, and then grab him as he went, while he quickly said, "Excuse me, Your Excellency." After allowing his Flowmotion to carry him to the end of the ice trail, Ventus easily hopped off the path he had made and then passed the Emperor off to Yao and Shang while shouting, "Get him to safety and shut the gates! We'll handle the rest!"

Shang and Yao both quickly guided the Emperor inside the palace, and before Ling and Chien Po had completely shut the palace off from Shan-Yu, the captain shot one last nod to Ven and his friends to show his thanks and gratitude. Ven would have returned the gesture had the gates not already closed, and if it were not for the fact that Shan-Yu had just recovered from his dazed state and was now charging at the blonde in anger. "You dare," Shan-Yu shouted as he locked his jagged sword with Ven's Keyblade. A minute later, Shan-Yu proved his skills as a swordsman when he suddenly spun the two blades around and disarmed Ventus long enough for him to punch the blonde hard enough so that he collided with the closed gates behind him. "You took away my victory!"

"No," Mulan shouted before throwing one of her shoes at Shan-Yu. The Hun merely turned to the woman in question, wondering if she was really crazy enough to do something like that, and just in time for Mulan to say, "I did."

That had left Shan-Yu confused for a moment, until he saw Mulan pull her hair back into a topknot, giving her the appearance of someone that he easily recognized. "The soldier from the mountains!"

"You sound surprised. Didn't think you had been bested by girl, did you," Xion easily quipped with a wide smirk, distracting Shan-Yu long enough for Mulan to slip her shoe back on and ready her sword again. Shan-Yu merely snarled before summoning a small number of Heartless that immediately went for the door to the palace and then advancing towards the two girls with rage burning in his vicious, cold eyes. "Guys, you keep the Heartless away from the door. Mulan and I will handle Shan-Yu," Xion ordered the rest of her friends.

"You sure, Sis," Roxas asked, not entirely willing to let Xion fight this warmonger with so little backup.

"Positive. We've got this," Xion promised. She then looked to her partner and asked, "Right Mulan?"

"Right," Mulan nodded in response, and she then fixed a determined glare onto Shan-Yu as she promised, "It ends now!"

The boys all nodded in reply to that, and instantly put all of their focus on besting the Heartless that were attacking the door. The only problem was that it turned out the Heartless were not the only ones trying to claw their way through, as Shan-Yu's hawk was adding a little help to the effort as well, but Donald was easily able to fix that after blasting the troublesome bird with a simple fire spell. The end result saw the hawk losing all of its feathers, and it immediately ran away from the fight while clucking like a chicken, much to Roxas and Sora's amusement. They likely would have been laughing their butts off had it not been for the Heartless that were still clawing at the door, and the sound of Ven activating his Fever Pitch Command Style quickly drew them back into seriousness once again.

Back with the girls, Mulan and Xion were showing Shan-Yu that they were not going down easily as they managed to block, parry, and at some points, push back a lot of his powerful sword strikes, but the Hun was proving to be nothing if not determined. Apparently, he took being buried under an avalanche and then robbed his prize very personally, and he was not about to let it slide even with the fact that the one responsible for both of these things had turned out to be a woman. Xion was not sure if she should take that as a good sign of people's opinions on women in this world or a bad one, but right now, she did not care, because she knew that she and Mulan could not lose to this man. He had far too many crimes to answer for, and she was determined to make him no matter what. Mulan shared that determination, and it showed in how she was happily cutting through Shan-Yu's defenses with her blade while spinning, ducking, jumping, and rolling away from his more dangerous attacks, all of which provided Xion a chance to hit Shan-Yu with some well-placed blasts of magic. At times, Mushu also used those same openings to let loose some blasts of fire that would have roasted the man alive had it not been for the dark powers he had gained from allying with the Heartless.

As the fight progressed, Xion found it necessary to call upon the power of her Valor Form, and with both Two Become One and Midnight Roar now in hand, Xion was able to slash her way through any defense that Shan-Yu attempted. Sure, she was no longer able to provide Mulan with any magic support, but considering that Mulan had a good deal of help from her guardian dragon, she was not too worried about that. They could not keep up this pace forever though, as Shan-Yu proved when he finally managed to get through Xion's impressive display swordsmen skills, and kicked her feet out from under her, causing the girl to fall flat on her back and lose her grip on both Keyblades. Xion quickly rolled away to avoid getting stomped on by the Hun, but the next time he attacked, Xion found herself unable to defend or get away in time. Thankfully, Mulan came to the rescue and blocked the sword strike with her own, but she was just not strong enough to best Shan-Yu's impressive strength alone, and she was soon pushed back into Xion, sending both girls sprawling onto the ground, while Mulan's sword was sent clattering away from her.

After they had landed, Xion's Drive Form had ended up being canceled out, likely as a way to prevent her from receiving serious injury, but that did not stop the two from moving to stand again, Xion calling Two Become One back into her hand as she did, but Shan-Yu found their efforts highly entertaining, as he could only laugh at them. His laughter increased a little when Mulan's best attempt at defense was to pull out a foldable fan she had on her person for reasons that Xion was not sure of, and he then boasted, "It looks like you two have finally run out of luck."

Shan-Yu then lunged forward with his sword, only to find it getting caught in Mulan's fan, which she immediately snapped closed again with her other hand, trapping the sword in place. Using all of her strength, Mulan then pulled on the fan as hard as she could, ripping the sword out of Shan-Yu's grasp, and right into hers. With a spin of the blade, Mulan was once again up in a new fighting stance, with Xion right by her side, as she replied, "Not quite."

"If anything, you ran out of luck the moment when you had to go up against two determined, strong women who won't back down to anyone," Xion finished.

While the two girls were talking, neither of them had ever taken notice of how both of their weapons and they themselves had taken on a glowing, red-orange aura, with Mushu getting a small bit of that same aura as well as he raced up into a position on one of Mulan's shoulders. The sight of this made Shan-Yu step back a little in fright, while Ventus on the other hand, who had just used the finisher of his Fever Pitch Command Style to destroy a few more Nightwalkers, could only look on with wide eyes. "That's a…Command Link," Ventus gasped in disbelief. "But that's impossible! Xion hasn't even had any training in how to use the D-Link abilities yet! Then again…could it be that she's subconsciously doing so through the bond she has forged with Mulan?"

Ven's musing went unheard by all the other combatants, as they were either busy destroying the Heartless, or watching as Xion and Mulan suddenly rushed forward in a fiery haze, with Mushu letting loose a rain of fireballs that destroyed several nearby Heartless while injuring Shan-Yu a great deal. Shan-Yu did not let that stop him though, as he was quickly drawing his fist back to punch one of the girls. His attack never connected, as Mulan merely swung her sword arm forward, releasing a wave of fireballs onto the Hun, and her attack was immediately followed up by Xion rushing in with a few powerful swings of her Keyblade, all of which was coated in flames. The girls repeated this combination of actions several times over, sometimes switching it up to keep both Shan-Yu and his Heartless from guessing, until finally, Mulan looked to her dragon partner and asked, "Ready Mushu?"

"I am ready, baby," Mushu shouted in response.

"Let's go," Xion cheered as she knelt down in preparation to jump.

"FOR CHINA," Mulan shouted as she leapt into the air alongside Xion.

The two girls then thrust their arms up into the sky, giving Mushu an extra boost, and while he was airborne, he spat out a massive volley of fireballs into the air. When the two girls next landed, they were standing back-to-back, tall and proud, and were doing so right in the middle of the fireballs that were now raining down around them like a massive downpour, destroying every Heartless that were caught in said rain, and setting Shan-Yu ablaze in a fiery inferno unlike any he had ever seen or experienced before. When the last fireball had finally fallen and Mushu landed back on Mulan's shoulder again, the Heartless were all vanquished, and everyone could not help but watch as Shan-Yu slowly stumbled from left to right before he finally fell over, defeated by the two girls who were now grinning widely to one another at their victory.

All was silent for a moment until Sora finally broke that silence by cheering, "YEAH! Way to go Xion and Mulan!"

"You did it! You beat him," Goofy hollered happily.

"Oh boy, oh boy! Way to go," Donald cried out just as loudly.

"Now that's what I call girl power," Roxas grinned at both his sister and her friend.

"And it's what I call burning some hunny-bun," Mushu cheered before he started singing praises as well. "Aw, yeah! Mulan's the best! Xion's the best! Mulan and Xion are the best! No, wait a minute—I'm the best! Mushu's the best! Mushu's the best!"

While the others just continued their own various forms of celebration for their victory, some of them even laughing a little at Mushu's as they did, Ventus could only look at the lone girl of his three apprentices in wonder. He could still hardly believe that Xion had managed to pull off such an advanced skill, not only without even realizing it, but with someone she had only just recently met. Was that a testament to how much like Sora she really was, or was it proof of her potential as a Keyblade wielder? Either way, it was an impressive feat, nonetheless, and he could not help but smile a little as he muttered, "Well whaddya know?"

* * *

The team's celebrating had to come to an end eventually, and end it did, because a short time later, the courtyard was filled to the brim with the Imperial City's citizens, while Mulan and her friends all stood before the Emperor, with a nervous-looking Shang standing at his ruler's side. Mulan had a good idea as to why Shang was worried for them, and her suspicions seemed to be well based when the Emperor came to stand before them, or more specifically, before her. Tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, Mulan bravely stepped forward and bowed deeply to the Emperor, who kept a stern look on her as he spoke.

"I've heard a great deal about you, Fa Mulan," the Emperor began, his tone even and not indicating any sign of being upset or pleased. Though it did turn a little more scolding as he continued on. "You stole your father's armor, ran away from home, impersonated an Imperial solider."

"Yeah, we know, we know. She's done stuff that she shouldn't be proud of, just get on with it," Xion whispered, only to be shushed by Ven a moment later.

"You deceived your commanding officer," the Emperor continued, making Shang adopt a more guilty expression when he did. Apparently the captain could not leave that detail out when he reported the events to the Emperor. "Convinced others to aid you in your deception…"

"Why's he dragging us into this," Roxas hissed to the others, but received no answer to his question.

"Shamed the entire Chinese army, and dishonored your family name," the Emperor pressed on, either not hearing Roxas or just ignoring him in favor of making his point.

"We get the picture," Sora sighed, repeating Xion's point from earlier.

"You're a young woman, and in the end…" the Emperor then stated, earning a worried moan from Donald while Ven and Goofy continued to wait with baited breaths for whatever came next. They were all a little surprised when the Emperor's tone softened a great deal as he smiled and declared, "You have saved us all."

Having not expected that last bit, Mulan slowly looked up, and was further surprised when the _Emperor_ actually bowed to _her_! She was so taken aback by this she was not sure how to react, and it did not help when she saw Shang, Yao, Ling, and Chien Po all follow the Emperor's example and bowed to her as well. Turning around, Mulan was shocked to see and hear as everyone in the crowd before the palace was bowing to the woman who would now become known as the hero of China, but what really hit home for her did not come until she looked to her six friends from another world. While they were all surprised by this, some of them even chuckling a little happily on her behalf, the boys all joined the crowd in bowing to Mulan in the end. As for Xion, she merely held Mulan's gaze for a few minutes before she smiled proudly and slowly bowed to her friend as well, bringing a brilliant smile to Mulan's face when she did.

"Your Excellency," Mulan nodded, feeling a few tears of joy starting to form, but she somehow managed to hold them back for the moment.

The Emperor then stood straight again as he looked to Shang and commanded, "Captain Li?" Shang merely nodded in response before procuring Shan-Yu's sword and presenting it to Mulan, as the Emperor spoke to her once more, "Take this, so the world will know what it is you have done for China."

"Thank you," Mulan nodded with another bow.

Shang then cleared his throat for a minute before he called out, "Mulan…"

"Yes," Mulan asked with a pleasant smile and, if the others were not mistaken, a small spark of hope in her eyes.

Apparently, Shang had not missed that, or at least, not entirely, because he hesitated in his next words for a minute before he turned to the other six and bowed as he said, "Ventus, Sora, Roxas, Xion, Donald, Goofy…Thank you."

"'Thank you,'" the Emperor parroted with a chuckle that almost sounded teasing. "Is that all there is to say, Captain?" When Shang suddenly started to look nervous, the Emperor knew that he was on to something, and pressed on with his words. "If you wish to win the heart of Fa Mulan, China's bravest woman, you'll have to be a bit more eloquent than that!"

Shang looked really flustered now, and his face was about as red as his cape when the Emperor, Mulan, and all the others started to laugh at his embarrassment. Of course, Mulan's laughter came to an end when Xion tapped her shoulder and asked, "So, can I get an autograph from the most awesome woman who ever lived?"

"I wouldn't know about that, because I think I know a girl who's a lot more awesome than me," Mulan shrugged while giving her friend a knowing look. After a shared giggle between the two, Mulan gave that same friend a very sincere look and said, "Thanks for everything, Xion."

"No, thank you," Xion nodded. "I think we both learned a few things from each other over the course of this whole adventure we shared."

While the two girls were exchanging smiles and thanks, Mushu was dancing in place as he quietly cheered, "Now they gotta let me go back to bein' a guardian! They GOTTA!"

The dragon was not being as quiet as he thought, because Goofy had overheard him, and said, "But Mushu, I thought you already _were_ a family guardian."

"What," Mushu gasped with a start. "Oh, no, no—don't even worry about that, that's just real technical. Just for us guardians."

"You tricked us," Sora angrily accused, proving that Mushu's fib was not fooling anyone now.

"Hmm? Oh, uh, heh heh, no, no, no, no. See, I-I just, um…you know, I just didn't wanna bog ya'll down with all the guardian needs," Mushu stuttered in response, all while backing away in preparation of what he knew was coming.

"Why you no good, rotten little snake," Roxas growled as he slowly advanced towards Mushu with Sora, both menacingly.

"GET HIM," Donald shouted, and like that, everyone other than Xion, Ven, and the Chinese folks were all chasing after the deceptive little dragon in order to get some payback for his trick, even as Mushu tried to spout off a slew of random excuses for his actions.

The others would have laughed at the silly little chase that had begun, had they not been distracted by the fact that Shan-Yu's sword had suddenly started glowing before it floated up out of Mulan's hand. Seeing this, Ventus and Xion both knew what that meant, but only the blonde had attempted to bring the others' attention to it. "Hey guys! Uh, guys," Ven called out, but none of the boys seemed to take notice, as they were all too focused on catching Mushu. He may not have been a lizard, but he was definitely a slippery little snake. "Guys, if you could just…Guys, you should really see…" Ventus kept trying to say, until he finally just sighed in defeat and turned to the only one of their group who was not chasing Mushu. "Well, since they're going to busy for a while, would you care to do the honors, Xion?"

Xion immediately nodded in reply with a smile, and then stepped forward while summoning Two Become One into her left hand. Upon holding it out in front of her with both hands, the tip of Xion's Keyblade began to glow brightly, while the image of the emblem on her gauntlet materialized around her, glowing brightly as a familiar energy surged out from the image's outline. Once again, as the surge passed, Xion found herself surrounded by a clouded, yet bright sky, as Shan-Yu's sword shot out a beam that dispersed into a Keyhole high above it. Without even thinking, Xion leapt back a short distance, spun her Keyblade around in her left hand, clearly getting used to wielding it in said hand more and more with every second, and then aimed her Keyblade at the Keyhole that had appeared, allowing a beam of light to be fired off from its tip the minute she had lined it up with the Keyhole. When the beam connected with the Keyhole, a faint ringing sound reached her ears, over the sound of something being unlocked, just as her surroundings returned to normal.

"Um…what just happened," Mulan questioned, not entirely sure what she and the others from her world had witnessed.

"Let's just say that our job here is done for now, and that little light show means it's time for us to be moving on," Ventus replied, with Xion confirming this with a nod and a sad smile.

"You shall be missed," the Emperor nodded in understanding.

Xion was not quite ready to say goodbye just yet, and could not help but ask, "Is it okay if we come back to visit?"

"Of course," Mulan smiled in reply.

"We will look forward to your return," Shang agreed.

The two Keybearers nodded in return to this comment, and the blonde master then looked to the rest of their group and shouted, "GUYS! You can get back at Mushu some other time! We've gotta get going now!"

That brought the chase to an end, with Mushu pushing his luck by sticking his tongue out at the four. He quickly came to regret when Roxas made a move to look like he was going to charge again and the blonde in question could only smirk at the sight of Mushu flinching away in response. Sora decided to get in a little bit of last minute fun of his own before they headed out, and turned a sneaky smile on Mulan and Shang as he teased, "You two play nice, now."

"Whoa! Watch it, soldier," Shang gasped, once again going red in the face, only this time, Mulan was joining him in the embarrassment, as proved by how she had covered her cheeks to hide how red they were becoming with a shy smile.

The group of six friends could only laugh at the two's embarrassment, and Xion was sure that she heard Mulan and Mushu doing the same before they had gotten too far away, but just as they were getting out of sight, Xion turned back to give Mulan one last hug in goodbye, and said, "Hey Mulan, just so you know, I want to be just like you someday."

Mulan could only smile brightly in reply to that, before she said, "Funny, I was just thinking the same thing about you, Xion."

The two girls then began to share one last hug before Xion turned to join her friends, but stopped short when a small light suddenly sparked between the two, and then dropped into Xion's hand. When it faded, it left behind a token that looked a lot like a Chinese pendant that Mulan had seen the Emperor wearing once or twice, connected to a series of black chains. "What's this," Mulan asked.

"I think…I think this is a new Keychain," Xion gasped in excitement. She then elaborated by explaining, "It's a special charm that can allow me to change the appearance of my Keyblade and use powers that belong to another Keyblade, namely the one that this Keychain belongs too."

"That's incredible," Mulan cheered. "What is the Keyblade that it belongs to though?"

"I think it's called…Hidden Dragon," Xion replied, already using her senses to learn the name of her new Keychain.

Mulan nodded in response, not really able to say anything to that, but she did feel a strange, small connection to that name for some reason that she could not shake, Still, she shrugged it off and exchanged one last goodbye hug with Xion like they had intended before allowing her friend to join her friends in their departure, the crowds cheering for the Keybearers and their two friends as they all departed. The minute that they had cleared the cheering crowds and found a hidden area, Ventus signaled for the _Kingdom_ to teleport them aboard. After their adventures in fighting a war for China, they were all more than ready for the challenges of the next world. So, they all immediately headed for the bridge, and the minute that they were all seated, Donald punched in the coordinates for the next world, with the Warp-G set to level three once again.

"Well, that was exciting," Sora commented to everyone as their ship pulled away from the Land of Dragons.

"Yep. One world down, and who knows how many more to go," Roxas agreed.

"Here's hoping they're all that easy," Xion sighed in relief.

"You think that was easy," both of her brothers asked in disbelief, earning a small laugh from her in response.

"Well, don't relax yet, you three. After all, you've still got some training to do, and not every world will be as much of a breeze as that. So rest up and then head down to the simulator deck in a couple hours. We've still got some work to do," Ven ordered.

Despite the groans of complaint that three made, anyone could tell that they were happy to get back to training again. They also knew that Ven had a point. Just because the problems of one world were easy to deal with, it did not mean that others would be the same, and they would find that out soon enough.

* * *

 ** _AN: Okay, so part 2 of the Land of Dragons 1st visit turned out to be longer than I thought, but I just couldn't find a good place to divide it any further without making two chapters that were just way too short, and I wanted to have this world's visit done in one chapter. Sure, I had the end of world visits end in the same chapter as another world's began in Dual Keys, but I'd prefer to do things like this for this story._**

 ** _Xion: And once again, I got a chance to really show off, and alongside Mulan too! How cool are we?_**

 ** _AN: Very. Plus, I'm sure some of you noticed that this chapter mixed in some elements from both the game and the movie here. This was due to those moments being seriously epic/cool in their own ways (at least if you were to ask me), and also to allow us a chance to see more bonding time between Mulan and Xion._**

 ** _Sora: Plus I got some good showcasing moments too! Like with the fact that I'm now able to use both a Tier Two Command Style, and my Keyblade Glider!_**

 ** _AN: Yep, that is also true. Now, I wasn't really planning on having Sora learn to master Tier Two Styles in this chapter originally, but after all the grief he had in the last story regarding Command Styles, I figured I'd give him a break when it came to the Tier Two stuff, at least when it comes to learning the one Tier Two Style that everybody seems to know, based on what we saw in BBS. As for the Keyblade Glider thing...well, there was just no better time to teach him that, and I wanted at least Sora to have learned how to do that before we get to a specific world that I'm sure we're all really excited to see. Namely a world that's packed with...Marvels._**

 ** _Speaking of Marvels, yeah, I did have to go into detail as to why Sora and Ven could no longer use the summon charms that they had collected on their last journey, because I felt that it needed to be explained here. What you read was basically my theory on why that was the case in the game's canon story as well, so while Sora and Ven do still have Genie and Tinker Bell's charms, they won't be active until they meet up with those characters again and have them restore some magic to those charms._**

 ** _Ven: What about the whole Command Link ability that Xion and Mulan did during their final battle with Shan-Yu? Or how Xion now has the Hidden Dragon Keyblade and Mulan seemed to feel a kind of connection to it?_**

 ** _AN: Easy there, hot-shot, I'm getting to all of that. First off, the whole thing about Mulan feeling a connection to Hidden Dragon is a reference to how in Keyblades of Future Past, she was one of three Disney characters who had become a Keyblade wielder as well. The other two being Aladdin and Jack Sparrow, if you'll recall. This is not me saying that Mulan will become a Keyblade wielder again in the future, but just as a little nod to that previous story._**

 ** _Moving on to why I had Xion gain that Keyblade...well, I think the answer's obvious. Aside from Sora learning a Tier Two Command Style and how to summon his Keyblade Glider, Xion did a lot more here than most of the others, so she deserves a big reward like that, don't you think?_**

 _ **Finally, the topic of the Command Link. This was something that we first saw back in the previous story,** Dual Keys **, namely when Riku and Mickey finally met up with Aqua in Dark World. In a way, I guess you could say that these are like this series' version of Limit Breaks and such, and I'll explain the mechanics behind them later on in the story. Or rather, Ven will when he begins teaching Sora, Roxas, and Xion on how to consciously use those abilities. We will be seeing more Command Links later on though, because both Sora and Roxas will get to use one before this training begins.**_

 _ **Roxas: So which one of us is going to get to use a Command Link, next?**_

 _ **AN: Well, you can probably draw up a few hints when you move Onto the Preview!...**_

 ** _Another world comes with another reunion, or so the team would think when they find themselves within the castle of their old ally, the Beast. Sadly, their old friend doesn't seem too happy to them, and it leaves a bad impression on Roxas. Just what is going on with Beast, are Belle and the other castle residents in danger, and why does this all smell like a bunch of rats by the name of Organization XIII? Either way, Roxas may be finding himself as the odd man out given how he's not too willing to give the Beast a benefit of the doubt whenever Sora and the others insist on Beast being a good person, and it may cause a bit of tension between him and Sora. Just who is the true man and who is the true beast? Find out, next time._**

 ** _Looks like next time, you'll get to be our guest in the tale as old as time, but until then..._**

 ** _Please read and review, and see ya real soon!_**


	12. Monsters or Beasts

**_Sora: Phew! Well, as always, vacation was great, and I'm glad I got in plenty of rest and relaxation, but now, it's all back to work for all of us._**

 ** _Xion: Yep, and that means we're back at it in the studio of lyokoMARVELanime. Though I gotta admit, I'm kinda glad that he's finally updating this story again. I was getting bored of watching you hanging out with the Avengers in Hearts of Avengers._**

 ** _Sora: Well don't look at me. It's not like I'm the one who told him to make that story go from the very beginning of my journey, but at least it'll go a little more original with the KH storyline than this series does._**

 ** _Roxas: [running into the room] Hey guys! Sorry I'm late._**

 ** _Ventus: You're actually not late, Roxas. If anything lyoko is._**

 ** _Kairi: Yeah, where is he? I thought he was supposed to be here by now._**

 ** _Aqua: Um...I think he's over here. [indicates an area off-screen, and everyone turns to see AN talking with a specific group of four]_**

 ** _AN: So you guys are cool with this arrangement right? I mean, it is going to be quite a while before your world appears in any of my KH stories/series._**

 ** _Ruby: Yeah, of course. I mean, as long as we get to work with you at all._**

 ** _Weiss: Speak for yourself. I think our show should be getting a full story for our first time working with lyokoMARVELanime._**

 ** _Ruby: Weiss! Hush!_**

 ** _AN: No, no, it's cool, Ruby. I like getting feedback from the people I work with. That's why I try to answer my reviewers as often as I can with each new chapter. That said, Weiss, I would start up an entire RWBY story of some kind, but the fact is, the only ideas I have at the moment are the ones where you guys are visited by the heroes of Kingdom Hearts, so maybe once we get those chapters out or something, I'll be able to come up with something a little bigger. Something that really has more a bang to it!_**

 ** _Yang: Or maybe something that has more of a Yang. Eh? Eh?_**

 ** _Blake: [facepalms] That wasn't even funny the first time._**

 ** _AN: Either way, I'm sure everyone's going to be excited to see Sora and the gang visit the world of Remnant, be it in the Keyblades Unleashed Series, or over in the Kingdom Marvels Series. [finally notices that they're being watched] What the...? Oh! I'm sorry! Are we rolling?! Are we finally getting the next chapter out?! [looks back to Team RWBY] All right, ladies, great talking to you all, and I'll be sure to keep you all updated on any new developments. If I do think of a full story idea, I'll have my people call your people._**

 ** _Blake: Uh...Do you have any people, and what do you mean "our people"?_**

 ** _AN: Oh, you know. Ozpin, Qrow, and a lot of those other guys like that. Either way, talk to you all later. Ruby, feel free to help yourself to some more of the cookies on the way out._**

 ** _Ruby: Yay! I officially like this guy! [dashes out of the room in a burst of rose petals]_**

 ** _Weiss: You'd like anyone who gives you cookies. [follows her partner out along with the rest of their teammates]_**

 ** _AN: [muttering] I don't think Cinder would agree with you. Or Salem for that matter. [normal voice] Okay! Welcome back guys! We're back from vacation and back on the clock, and it's all starting off on the world where you can Be our guest._**

 ** _Ventus: Be our guest?_**

 ** _AN: Put our service to the test! Tie your napkin round your neck cherie, and we provide the rest...Ahem, anyways, before we visit the Beast's Castle, let's answer a review or two._**

 ** _For starters, "CG", all your suggestions are really good, impressive at that (though I will admit that I didn't get all of the references), and I will try and use as many as I can, but I'm going to warn you right now, I've already got a lot of things already set in stone for this series's version of KH3, especially in the case of the final battle. To answer your questions, everything that meets my approval is something I run by the cast first to see if it meets their approval, otherwise I wouldn't give it the go ahead. Second question's answer, I've never heard of Chrono Trigger/Chrono Cross (or at least I don't think I have) until you mentioned it. For the moment, I have planned on going with the game's version of the story in San Fransokyo, but I do like the idea of working in something from the series. Regarding Kairi's fighting style, I do feel like I can see her using a fighting style that's similar to either Asuna, Leafa, or Yuuki, and I'm actually thinking about working that into this series. I'm keeping all cards close to the chest when it comes to the True Organization XIII, so you're just going to have to wait and see what I have planned regarding them. I am...sort of skipping over Coded. I'm thinking of having that adventure happen simultaneously alongside the story Dark Reflections, assuming I decide to make that story completely in canon with the Keyblades Unleashed series (Fair warning, it's looking like I might end up doing that). I liked nearly all the songs from KH3, aside from the ones that felt really sad to me. Don't ask me to name any titles, because we'd be here almost all day if we did that. And yeah, the Master of Masters does seem really out of wack in every appearance aside from his chat with Ava._**

 ** _Now that we've got the long-winded answer out of the way, "Anonymaton", I've actually been thinking really hard on all the Keyblade transformations that I could do for each Keyblade in this series, and I kinda like that ideas that you had for Xion's Keyblade, so I'll keep that in mind for now. Thanks for that._**

 ** _"Anonimosx", there isn't any plan for a full crossover, but I do plan to have the Transformers appear in both this series and the Kingdom Marvels series. As for what worlds, you'll just have to wait and see on that. Don't worry, one of those two will be revealed pretty soon._**

 ** _Rolling on over to "Monkey D. Conan", all of your questions regarding the visit to this world will be answered today, or at least some of them. In fact, one or two of your other questions will be answered either in this chapter or in the preview for next chapter. Regarding Ven and Aqua's reunion, and moments that they'll share later on, I do have a few things in mind. You'll see what I mean soon enough. Regarding your questions about Beyond the Worlds, Sora and Kairi will retain all of their abilities that they'll have learned in both time lines, but you'll find that the number of things they learn over the course of Keyblades Unleashed kind of outnumbers or outclasses the stuff they learned in that alternate future, save for their Command Styles. Anymore than that is the stuff I can't explain right now._**

 ** _Next, "Dragon Rider 66", don't worry, you'll get a better understanding of the reason why Roxas isn't taking the Mark of Mastery Exam with the other four soon enough. While this story is called Keyblade Legion, a good deal of the plot in this one does tend to focus quite a bit on Roxas and Xion, so those answers will come very easily._**

 ** _To the guest reviewer "Balto1", Kairi's going to be joining the Keyblade Legion very soon in this story, as has been implied in both the cover art and some of the past notes and chapters, but as for Axel...well, that's another "wait-and-see" answer, I'm afraid, because Axel's role has a lot of things involved._**

 ** _Speaking of guest reviewers, "Guest" of 3/6/2019, in order, I don't know for sure about this story (at least not at the moment), but something similar may happen in the series later on. The chances of Aqua acting in similar way to the kids as Ventus does is pretty high, and when they reunite, they won't really need to do too much asking for Sora to get why they want to be alone for a bit. Sora's not that bad...at least not in this series._**

 ** _Sora: Hey!_**

 ** _AN: Ah, I'm just kidding, Sora...Mostly._**

 ** _Aqua: Ahem, I'll be taking the next answer, namely to the guest reviewer "Guest" from 3/7/2019, and I'm just going to answer based on the assumption that you mean in this series's timeline. It's really more of a question on what didn't make me fall in love with Ven, to be honest. He's brave, fast, kind, always so eager to help his friends, and his smile just lights up the room in a way that can't be described when he's truly happy, but at the same time, he can also be reckless, impulsive, but he makes up for that in his determination to do good and his honest desire to be with and help his friends no matter what. Not to mention that the way his eyes get when he looks at something in wonder, or how they seem to twinkle like stars when our eyes meet, and...[sighs dreamily with a far off gaze]_**

 ** _AN: Okay, Aqua, we get it. Thanks for your input...Aqua? [looks to see that she's caught in a love-struck daydream] Whelp, she's gonna be out of it for a while. Moving on, to the guest reviewer "Sapphraze", you're right in saying that Xion is technically a replica of Roxas in canon, but keep in mind, this is an AU story. Plus, Roxas had already viewed Xion as a sister for a much longer time than Sora, and it would've been a lot weirder to say that Roxas was her dad. (and less funny)_**

 ** _Roxas,Sora, &Xion: We heard that!_**

 ** _AN: Sorry. Moving to the Guest reviewer "Guest" of 3/23/2019, I'm not sure if I could've or not, but to be honest, I didn't really try that hard to unlock the Ultima Weapon until after I cleared the main story of the game. I kinda figured that it would do that for the final battles, and ultimately would've made the whole thing way too easy for my liking._**

 ** _"Guest" of 4/3/2019, don't worry. Ven's not going to be pulling anything like that again in this story. At least, there's no plan for him to at this time._**

 ** _Next up is..._**

 ** _Kairi: I feel like these review answers are taking a lot longer than usual, and we've really got to get the chapter started since it's so long._**

 ** _AN: I know, I know! I wrote the thing! Just give me a few minutes, please. Ahem, anyways, "barbatos009", glad to hear you enjoy my work so much, and I do plan to have the Lingering Will play a larger role in this series than it seemed to have in KH3, so no worries there. Also, I'm afraid that you're link didn't quite go through, so I wasn't able to see that thing on Pinterest. Sorry._**

 ** _Rounding it around to "Guest" of 4/23/2019, no, Aqua never tried communicating with Ven like Kairi did with Roxas. Part of the reason being because that whole thing was not intentional on either Kairi or Roxas's parts. Another part, she was focused on either helping Mickey to help Riku, and later training Kairi, and as we all know, once Aqua sets herself on something, it's not easy to get her off that task for anything else. She may love the guy, but she's also a really dedicated, hard-worker that sometimes takes on a little too much for her plate._**

 ** _Finally, to the "Guest" of 5/11/2019, Ven will still recognize Saix, but any warnings he tries to give will more than likely fall on deaf ears. Especially when you consider that Saix is one of the most absorbed into the the Organization's goals._**

 ** _Okay, now that we're finally through all of that, let's get on with the show, everyone!_**

 ** _I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story._**

* * *

 **Chapter XII**

On his last journey through the worlds, Sora had found a certain comfort from being able to pick up on the subtle sounds of the gummi ship's engines reverberating through the walls as it flew across interspace. He found that it served as a reminder for the fact that he was living out his life-long dream of traveling to other worlds and how he was doing so as part of a mission to help his friends, both old and new. However, unlike the original _Kingdom_ , this one did not seem to have that subtle sign of reassurance. Sure, he could still feel vibrations in the walls in some parts of the ship, but it was mostly in rooms that were closer to the engineering section of the gummi ship, and none of those rooms were living quarters, or the simulator deck. It was a little disappointing to him in a way, but it did also help him remember that this was not the same old ship that had been destroyed at the end of his last journey. Of course, it probably should have helped remind him of how he needed to focus on his current training spar as well, because Xion was quick to take advantage of when he paused to try and listen for that subtle hum for a few seconds.

"Don't let your attention wander, Sora. Keep your focus on the battle at all times," Ventus coached from where he was standing on the sidelines while watching Sora scrambled to roll away from Xion's most recent attack. Sora only just barely had time to nod a reply before he brought his Keyblade up to deflect or block Xion's next round of attacks. The main purpose of this spar was to help the girl get a better feel for fighting with the reverse grip since she had used it so much now, and to help her refine it a little more, so it was no surprise to Ven that Sora was mostly playing on defense more than anything else. Not that he was okay with his first apprentice doing so. "Xion's never going to refine all aspects of a reverse hand-grip fighting style if you just keep playing on the defensive side of things, Sora. If you find an opening to attack, then you should take it and press on it."

"Got it," Sora confirmed, and it was not much later after their exchange that the wielder of Kingdom Key did find such an opening, and made sure to take it as instructed.

Xion may have had him at a disadvantage with her being left-handed, but Sora was still a much more experienced fighter than her, especially when it came to swordplay, so the girl was finding him to be a somewhat harder opponent to handle that Shang had been. Though looking back, Xion had to wonder if Shang might have been holding back a little during their spar, and ended up unable to really fight when he realized that was a mistake on his part. She had to put it aside to think on later, because she knew that Ven's advice to not get distracted by outside things applied to her as well, and it was only driven home when she stumbled a little under the force Sora's most recent swing held when their Keyblades collided once again.

"Don't let yourself remain stationary for too long, Xion," Ventus advised. "Using a reverse grip means you need to be light on your feet, and that you need to be slightly faster than someone who uses a standard grip. Also, try to extend your reach a little more than that. If you going to use a reverse grip, you need to extend your arms out a little more in order to compensate for how the blade can't go as far as it would in a standard hold."

"Right," Xion nodded, before she slipped away from Sora with a spin, sliding her blade along his as she went.

"Oh, and one more thing," Ventus called out as Xion started to attack, only to pause when she heard him speak. That left her open for Sora's next charge, and she soon found herself falling to the floor flat on her back with Kingdom Key's tip pointed at her throat. "Okay, make that two things. One, watch your footwork, and two, don't get distracted."

"Not funny," Xion grumbled in response while Sora just smiled in good humor.

"Don't worry about it too much. He did the same thing to me more than a handful of times during some of our first sparing practices," Sora reassured her.

That did get Xion to smile a little bit, knowing that Sora had to deal with the same bit of humiliation that she just did, and she was soon accepting a helping hand up to her feet again with the older boy offered it to her. "All in all though, I'd say you're actually off to a pretty good start with that fighting style, though, Xion," Ventus admitted as he approached the two. "I'm not sure if it's natural talent or certain other influences, but your progress in terms of skill with using a reverse grip is certainly impressive. I think you're getting the hang of it even faster than I did."

"Thanks, Ven," Xion smiled in response, though a part of her did feel a little upset at hearing those words. It was mainly because she knew "other influences" was Ven's way of referring to how she had a fragmented version of his heart inside of her, a fact that they had still not told Sora, Donald, or Goofy about, and Xion was far from okay about keeping such a secret from those three. Still, Ven seemed to think that was for the best, so she kept her mouth shut and tried to conceal any upset feelings she had behind her smile.

Ventus must have realized what Xion was thinking, because he gave her a quick, reassuring smile before turning his attention to his third apprentice to see how the younger blonde was doing. At the moment, Roxas was actually practicing his fighting abilities with one Keyblade over two, his Keyblade of choice for this round of practice being Oblivion, and from the look of things, you would think he was doing pretty decently. Ventus knew better though, because he could see many signs of Roxas making an effort to resist the urge to summon Oathkeeper to his other hand, along with more than a few indications that the younger blonde was getting frustrated with something. It was not that Roxas's swings or the moves he was practicing were turning out badly, but from what he could see, it looked like they were not coming out in a way that Roxas was too fond of, and every time this happened, only seemed to sour Roxas's mood a little more. Eventually, his frustrations finally reached a breaking point, and after one more swing, Roxas just let out an agitated growl before tossing Oblivion to the ground, much like he had the copy of Kingdom Key when it appeared in his hand on the day of the Struggle tournament. Even if they were not taking a break at the time, Ventus was sure that Xion and Sora would not have missed this any more than he had, especially given how concerned they both looked as they joined him in moving to check on Roxas.

"Everything okay, Roxas," Sora asked as Oblivion disappeared from where it landed, only to rematerialize in the blonde's hand a second later.

"Oh yeah, of course. I just like to growl in frustration to the sky because it's fun," Roxas replied with sarcasm so heavy, some of them were sure that it probably slowed the ship down a little in its flight.

"Bro, come on. How many times do I have to tell you that you shouldn't be talking to people like that when they're honestly worried about you," Xion asked.

"Are we talking about the actual times that I can remember, or the times that we only think were real," Roxas snipped in return, earning him a reproachful look from Ventus while Xion turned a little more downcast. Seeing how hurt his sister was, Roxas immediately dropped all signs of frustration for a much more apologetic appearance when he next spoke. "Oh, Xion, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to say that. I just…I can't get used to fighting like this. Every time I try and fight with just one Keyblade, I feel like I'm cutting off a part of myself, or like I'm fighting with one arm tied behind my back. I know how weird it sounds, considering that I was able to fight with just one weapon easily not that long ago, but now that I know I can fight with two Keyblades, it just feels a lot more natural to do so than it does to only use one."

"It probably doesn't help that your fighting style and stance are pretty similar to Sora's, either, does it," Ventus guessed, earning a small nod from Roxas in reply.

That got Sora's attention a little more, and made him feel brave enough to speak again without worry of how Roxas would respond. "Say, how come you use the same style as me anyway," Sora asked. "I mean, I get that you're…that you _were_ my Nobody, but since you're your own person now, shouldn't that mean you should have tried something a little more original, like Xion has?"

"I…I actually don't know," Roxas admitted, silently thanking Sora for his earlier correction when he mentioned their previous connection. "I guess it just never really occurred to me before since I normally use both of my Keyblades in a fight."

"You know, maybe that could be the key to helping you finally master using just one Keyblade over two," Ventus offered. "I don't really know how Xion learned or developed her personal fighting style, but from what I can tell, it has been a huge help for her in terms of developing her combat skills."

"I don't know."

"Well, just think about it for a little bit," Ventus advised. "Right now, I think it's time you three got another magic lesson."

"But I thought I'd already learned all the spells you had taught Sora on his last journey, at least in terms of the basic ones. Are you saying that you're going to teach us the rest now," Xion asked.

"No, that's something I think I'll leave to Sora. After all, I can't have him shrinking on his duties as your sibling disciple, now can I," Ventus replied. That earned him amused smiles from the three kids, and he took that as initiative to continue on. "Besides, Roxas still hasn't quite mastered use of fire, ice, and lightning spells yet, and I'd at least like for him to better master those and healing magic before I get into all the other spells I taught Sora last year. Right now, I think I'll just go with something that you can all learn right now: a new defensive spell."

"Really? But I thought defensive magic was too complicated for new Keyblade wielders if it wasn't Aero Shield," Sora pointed out, remembering that Ven had said something very similar to that when he first asked about the differences between offensive and defensive magic.

"Usually yes, but I'm sure we've all noticed that Roxas and Xion are special cases in more ways than one, and given what we're dealing with, it's better safe than sorry," Ventus pointed out. That got him a couple small nods from the kids, and he took that as his cue to explain the spell he had in mind. "I actually mentioned this spell to you once before, Sora: Fire Ring. As the name implies, it is a fire element spell, and in some ways, it is a little simpler than Aero Shield. The idea is to basically create a trio of fireballs that spin rapidly around you in a single ring, burning anything that gets too close. However, it's more complicated than Aero Shield because you're just making a single, solid ring that spins in one direction as opposed to a large sphere that spins around you in several directions at once."

"How is a single spinning ring more complicated than a sphere that spins around in several directions," Roxas asked.

"I'm…not entirely sure about that myself," Ventus shrugged, gaining some small looks from the kids in response. "What? Aqua was the magic expert, not me. She could list all these details like it was as simple and common as a sunrise. Just bare with me as I do my best to simplify it, okay?" When the three nodded in response, Ventus carried on with the best explanation he could offer. "Basically, Aero Shield is a large, three-dimensional shape, and as such, you have more to work with in its creation. Fire Ring on the other hand, is just a single, curved line, which means you need to narrow the field a lot more. While some would argue it's harder to form a three dimensional object, others would point out that it would probably be because they weren't looking at it from the caster's perspective. You guys have all gotten used to casting spells that can span a large area, so I'd imagine that asking you to narrow it down to this extent may be more of a challenge."

"I think I see what you mean," Sora nodded in understanding. "Basically, to cast Fire Ring, we can't just project it outward as much as possible, but we need to contain it a lot more in the shape we want, and since it's a smaller shape than the sphere of Aero Shield, that makes it a little more challenging, right?"

"Pretty much. Like I said, Aqua could probably explain it better, and with a bit more detail, but that is the basic gist of it from what I've always understood," Ventus confirmed. "So, who wants to be the first to try?"

"Oh! Me, me, me," Xion jumped up in excitement, waving her hand in the air like an excited kid that wanted to be called on to answer.

The boys could not help but chuckle a little at her excitement, but Ventus still let Xion try her luck at the spell first. He did not think she or the other two would be likely to get it very quickly though, but it would definitely serve as a good way to pass the time until they finally reached their next destination.

* * *

"Fira Ring," Sora shouted as he prepared to cast the second level of the defensive fire spell. While Roxas and Xion were still working on getting a handle on the basic spell, Sora had seemed to get it down pretty quickly. Ventus figured that was partly because Sora already had some experience with defensive spells thanks to his learning Aero Shield, and that the rest was due to the fact that Sora was still technically much more experienced with his magic abilities than the other two. Still, Xion was catching up very quickly, almost to the point where Ven was beginning to think that the girl would probably benefit a great deal if Aqua were to start teaching her at some point. That did not mean he was okay with Sora trying his hand at the next level of the defensive fire spell just yet. While Sora was capable of easily using level two magic again, Ven had warned the spiky haired brunette against trying to do so with this spell since it was different from the usual level two spells he had used up until now, and as such, he had advised Sora to just get a solid feel for basic version of the defensive fire spell for now. Clearly Sora had not listened, and would have to learn the hard way.

As it turned out, Sora ended up learning the hard way very well. When the spell first materialized, creating three balls of fire that spun rapidly around him, Sora was sure he could handle it, but what he had not expected was that the fireballs would be a bit bigger and faster than they were in the level one version of the spell. As such, he was barely able to avoid getting burnt to a crisp when the spell finally came to a close, but he did not get out completely unscathed, and everyone quickly found that out when he started yelling. "My hair is on fire," Sora cried out as he began running around the peaceful clearing that they had generated in the simulator deck with his spiky locks enflamed. "My hair is on fire! My hair is on fire! My hair is—Blarblublullullull!"

That last thing Sora cried out was due to the fact that Ven finally got tired of watching the kid run around like a chicken with its head cut off and blasted him in the face with a powerful stream of water from Guardian Wind, much to Roxas and Xion's surprise. He ignored those looks for now as he focused on Sora and scolded, "Now do you see why I told you to not try that right away? Not all defensive spells are as easy to handle as you move up their ladder as Aero Shield was. You need to be prepared for anything as you increase the power you put into them."

Sora barely paid attention to what Ven was saying, only nodding along when the blonde had finished, with his wet spikes dripping water on the ground as his head moved. He probably would have given a little more focus to Ven's words if it were not for the stunning discovery he had just made. "Did you just a water spell on me," Sora finally asked.

Ventus was caught off guard by that being the first thing to come out of Sora's mouth, but after thinking about it for a moment, Ven realized that he probably should not be too surprised. The kid was always very interested in things that looked pretty cool or amazing when it came to anything regarding Keyblade wielding. "Yes. Yes, I did," Ventus confirmed at last. "Why do you ask?"

"Well since when is water magic a thing for Keyblade wielders," Sora asked in return.

"Since always," Ventus shrugged. "I mean, it's not really one of the basic spells that every wielder is required or known to learn when they begin training, but it is still a type of magic we can use. It's like I told you when you first started training, magic for Keyblade wielders is really all just a matter of making things happen that you want to happen."

"But why isn't water magic one of the basic spells that Keyblade wielders need to learn," Xion questioned, having taken a little more interest in the topic, and from the look of things, Roxas was wondering the same thing.

Ventus was just about to answer her, but he ended up just standing there with his mouth open and no words coming out for a few minutes. "I'm…actually not sure," Ventus admitted while scratching his head in thought. "I always thought it was a little odd myself, to be honest. Aqua and Master Eraqus once told me that water magic is just something that others only choose to learn if they wanted to, but most people don't because they feel like it's not that different from ice magic, but I've never really understood why. It just seemed silly to me."

"You know, I don't think I've ever asked this before, but how many different types of magic do you know, anyway, Ven," Sora suddenly inquired.

"Yeah, I mean, we all know you can use the basic three spells, healing magic, and that you're really good with wind magic, but I don't think I remember you ever saying what other types of magic you were good at besides those, Command Styles, and Shotlocks," Roxas added on, remembering those very details from what he and Xion saw in Sora's memories.

"Plus you're also really good with time magic too," Sora finished for the blonde.

"I wouldn't say I'm that good," Ventus immediately denied. "The most I could ever do with time magic is the level two spell, Stopra. Mickey can cast time spells that are way more powerful than that, and even then, there are time spells that surpass what he can do."

"That doesn't change the question though," Xion pointed out.

Ventus crossed his arms in thought for a minute, since it had been a long time since he seriously thought about it, before he finally answered, "Well, you guys pretty much listed all of it for the most part, but aside from those, there's also the ability to cast summon spells, assuming I have a charm that I can use, not to mention how I've recently started learning how to use Flowmotion magic. As far as regular magic goes though, I do have a few other spells up my sleeve like reflect magic, along with spells in the magnet and gravity elements."

"Wow," all three kids breathed in awe, and they were about to ask why he had not tried to teach any of them all the spells he had learned in the elements he had just mentioned when a familiar warble crackled over the intercom once again. _"Hey everyone, the next world's coming up, so if you want to get a look from the bridge, now's the time to do so!"_

"Well you heard the duck. We'll have to continue this conversation later, and carry on with more of your training either on the ground or the next time we're on the ship," Ventus told the three, and he was soon leading the way out of the simulator deck and up to the ship's bridge, each of them excited to see where they had ended up now.

None of them were disappointed, because upon arriving on the bridge, they were greeted with the sight of a world that seemed to be dominated by a massive castle. Sure, there did seem to be a small village not too far from the castle, but it was just a small little spot in comparison. More than that, despite whatever magnificence you would think that the castle might hold, there was something about it that gave all of them an anxious feeling. Maybe it was the beastly gargoyles that sat perched up on some of the walls, or maybe it was how dark and old the place seemed to be, almost looking as though barely anyone lived in the place now, or had even lived there at all for years. Still, despite its less than pristine state, they could all tell that something or someone was in fact living there, and that made the group even more curious.

"So what is this place," Sora finally asked.

"Not sure. I've never been here before," Ventus replied, closing his eyes for a minute so he could better reach out with his senses. When he opened his eyes again, he revealed, "Whatever it is though, I'm definitely picking up on a very strong source of light from somewhere inside the castle. And I mean _very_ strong, but also…familiar."

"Do ya think this could be the world of one of the Princesses of Heart," Goofy asked.

"Maybe. After all, none of us have been to the worlds of all seven of the princesses," Ventus recalled.

Sora nodded in admittance of that fact when he noticed that Roxas's brow had furrowed quite a bit, while Xion was holding a hand to her head like she had a headache. "Hey, are you guys okay," he asked the twins, getting everyone to turn to the two and see the same thing.

"Yeah, fine, it's just…" Roxas started to say, but he was unable to finish his sentence due to a sudden spike of pain in his forehead, similar to the ones he had during his and Xion's last day in the virtual Twilight Town.

"Something about this place feels…really familiar," Xion finished for her brother. "It's like…It feels like I've been here before at some point, both with and without Roxas."

"Do you think that maybe you visited this world while you were with the Organization," Donald offered.

"Maybe," Roxas shrugged as the pain in his head began to subside. "From what I can remember, we definitely went to a bunch of different worlds, but I don't think we really interacted with too many people."

"Well you must've talked to some people while you were with them, considering how Pete reacted when he saw you two at Yen Sid's tower," Sora pointed out.

Before Roxas could argue that point, Xion cut him off while scratching her head in an attempt to recall any memories of her time in the Organization that pertained to this world. "I do think I visited this castle once before…and I think…I was with someone other than Roxas. A really big guy who wasn't really too social and seemed to view certain things in a negative light…"

"Yeah…I think his powers had something to do with air…or was it wind," Roxas then recalled, picking up on the trail of memory that Xion had laid. He then rubbed his head for a minute before he added, "I think there was also something about a curse…and moving furniture?"

"You guys moved around furniture while you were visiting this world," Goofy asked.

"No, we didn't move it. The furniture was moving on its own…I think," Roxas corrected. "All I can remember for sure was what Xion mentioned and that there was some kind of curse involved with this castle and the people living in it."

"Well if that's the case and this is the world of a Princess of Heart, then we should probably take a closer look, just to make sure it's not something that the Heartless can take advantage of, and that it isn't a serious threat to said princess," Ventus determined. "Everyone, to the teleporter!"

With that command, everyone rushed over to the room in question, and in a matter of seconds, they were disappearing from the inside of the gummi ship and being beamed down to their next world and the adventures that awaited them on it.

* * *

"Whew, this place is actually kinda creepy on the inside," Roxas muttered as they all entered the castle seconds after their feet had touched the ground, while Sora closed the large doors behind them.

"Yeah, a lot like the kind of place where you might find a few ghosts," Xion teasingly grinned, giving her voice a spooky inflection towards the end.

That made Roxas, Donald, and Goofy all shiver in their boots a little bit, but Roxas quickly buried the reaction in an attempt to hide it as he stuttered, "C-come on, Xion. That's just ridiculous. Th-there's no way this place has ghosts…right?"

"Well we have seen some ghosts before, and encountered some ghost-like Heartless on our last journey," Sora pointed out, not noticing how Roxas paled a little after he had spoken.

"Somehow, I don't think we'll have to worry about any actual ghosts, though," Ventus reassured everyone. "I'm pretty sure this isn't some haunted castle or anything like that."

"But it is huge," Donald pointed out.

"And sorta gloomy, don't ya think," Goofy added.

"Yeah, but there isn't really that much dust, so there must be someone here," Xion noted as she brushed a finger along the surface of a nearby table.

"Or some _thing_ ," Ventus added on, earning nervous shivers from Roxas, Donald, and Goofy once again.

"Either way, it does make you wonder who lives here," Sora commented. He got something of an answer a minute later, when a loud roar suddenly echoes all throughout the castle, making everyone jump in fright, while prompting Sora and Ven to jump into ready stances on instinct as Roxas and Xion quickly grabbed hold of each other out of fear.

After calming his nerves though, Goofy started to think for a minute, and then smiled as he asked, "Hey, does anybody else recognize that?"

"You mean as something that will likely rip us to shreds or eat us all alive," Xion nervously questioned.

"No, I mean as in something else, and something much more friendly too," Goofy clarified.

That made Sora, Donald, and Ven all pause to think for a minute, but it was not until the roar came again that any of them figured out what it was that made Goofy think it sounded so familiar. "Hey! That's the Beast," Sora finally cheered.

"Yeah," Donald nodded in agreement.

"The Beast? You mean as in the same Beast that helped you guys out when you all went to Hollow Bastion a year ago," Roxas recalled as he and Xion finally relaxed enough to let go of each other.

"Yep, that'd be the one," Ventus confirmed. "Guess this must be his world, and if that is the case, then maybe we should check on him to see how he's doing."

It seemed like a good idea to all the others, especially since it meant that they would be able to introduce Beast to Roxas and Xion while getting some confirmation on whether or not they knew anyone here, but something else quickly caught Xion's attention when her eyes caught a glimpse of something slinking around nearby. Turning to the thing in question, her eyes immediately widened, and she did not hesitate to point it out to the others, shouting, "Guys, look! A Heartless!"

Turning to where Xion had indicated, they all quickly spotted a lone, Shadow crawling along the floor towards an open room that seemed to have a faint light shining out from the crack in the door, and considering what one Heartless being around usually meant, none of them had any problem with chasing down the little creature with an intent to get rid of it before it could cause any damage. They did not have to go far, because the room that the Heartless was fleeing to was barely that far away from the main entrance of the castle. Upon entering the room, they all had to pause for a moment because it looked like the Shadow had disappeared from view. That was not uncommon when it came to Heartless, but there was just something about this disappearance that made the group worried, so they kept their guard up.

As they searched for their quarry, they also took the time to analyze the room in an attempt to get a lay of the land. Doing so allowed them to easily figure out that they were in some sort of parlor, and a very empty one at that, because aside from the faint flames in the fireplace, there was not a soul in sight. There were however, quite a few old-looking portraits, some slightly torn drapes, and some pieces of very dusty furniture. Of course, there was one other thing in the room, but only Xion seemed to notice it at first since the others were all more invested in location their runaway Heartless.

"Where did it go," Donald finally asked after a few more seconds of looking.

"I'm not sure," Ventus finally said. "But don't let your guard down. If it did come in here, then it's more than likely still here. Heartless don't normally leave an area entirely without being frightened off, and that's not something that usually happens."

"Hey guys. Take a look at this," Xion told the group at last, diverting all their attention to what she had caught sight of: a single, red rose inside of a glass jar on the nearby table, and from where they were standing, it looked as though the rose was glowing, and had a few sparks of light slowly falling from its petals. As Xion drew closer, she saw that was exactly the case, and while it made her a little nervous at the same time, she was also getting more and more curious. "I've never seen a flower this beautiful before…" Xion whispered as she finally got within arm's reach of the jar.

"Careful Xion," Sora warned her. "It doesn't exactly look normal."

"Oh relax, Sora. How much harm can a little flower cause to the girl who helped save China," Xion waved off as she drew a little closer.

"Wait, Mulan's here? I didn't know she joined the team," Sora quipped back in easy reply.

"Very funny," Xion replied with a roll of her eyes, knowing that Sora had her say that she helped to save China, not that she saved China alone. She then proceeded to reach out and remove the jar from around the rose, but just as her hand was about to come into contact with the glass, their missing Shadow suddenly popped up between her and the rose, making her jump back in shock. "Uh…Found the Heartless!"

Roxas was quick to start heading over in order to provide aid to his sister, only to be cut off when another three Shadows suddenly appeared in front of him. A moment later, Sora and Ventus found a few Shadows materializing almost right in their faces, too, and not much later, the entire team was surrounded by Shadow Heartless. It was not long before they had drawn their respective weapons, and even less time passed before they set to work slashing, slicing, and blasting in response to when the Shadows pounced. The battle that had ensued was wild and somewhat uncoordinated beyond the fact that they still managed to avoid getting in one another's way somehow, but for every Shadow that they destroyed, it seemed like another three were just waiting to take its place.

Eventually, the Keybearers of the group began powering up in whatever method was available to them, with Ventus activating his Fever Pitch Command Style, Xion switching into her Valor Form, and Sora activating his own Unique Command Style shortly after that. Despite all of this though, even the incredible powers that they gained with these power-ups did not seem to do them any good in slowing down the swarm of Heartless. Eventually, they were beginning to tire, with Ventus even going so far as to enter his Tier Two Command Style Wingblade, and Sora activating his own Valor Form soon after Xion's had faded out, but the Heartless clearly still had much more to throw at them.

"Aw, c'mon, don't you guys ever take a break," Roxas groaned as he let his arms fall limp on either side in an extra show of tiredness.

"No kidding! Enough already," Sora agreed.

"Somebody help us," Donald finally shouted.

It was hard to say if anyone was going to voice doubts that anyone in the castle would be able to hear Donald's cry for help, but even if they were, they would have been proven wrong, because a mere few seconds after the duck had warbled out his shout, the doors to the parlor slammed open, admitting a new combatant that frightened Xion and Roxas a little, and brought excited smiles to the faces of Sora, Ventus, Donald, and Goofy. Stomping into the room, in his full, furry glory, was none other than the Beast. The Heartless seemed to take notice of the big guy's arrival too, because they quickly turned their attention from the team to attack Beast. This proved as further evidence to the fact that the Heartless were not all that smart, because they clearly were not able to recognize that it would have been smarter to run from the obvious threat, and as a result, they were quickly destroyed with a few simple swipes of Beast's claws. A few more swipes and a loud, earthshaking roar later, and all the Heartless were destroyed, leaving only the six adventurers and the Beast in the room.

"Just in time," Sora cheered, raising his hand up for a high-five from Beast, but he and Ventus were both left feeling a little confused with their friend did not seem to even notice.

"Uh Beast? You okay," Ventus questioned out of concern. The only answer he received was the Beast suddenly swatting both him and Sora aside as he passed them.

Seeing that startled both Donald and Goofy a great deal, so they were left unprepared when the Beast did the same thing to them not a second later. Upon seeing more than half of her friends getting shoved around so roughly, Xion took it upon herself to get into the Beast's path, earning her a great deal of his anger when she did. "Hey, what did you do that for," Xion demanded, either not knowing or not caring about the fact that she was getting the larger being angry. "That's not how you should be treating your friends."

"Xion, get away," Roxas shouted, but his warning was too late, as Xion was soon roughly batted out of the Beast's path as well. Seeing his sister getting hurt like that really set Roxas off and he immediately summoned Oblivion once again, gripping it with both hands as he charged the Beast with full intention to strike back. "You leave my sister and friends alone," Roxas shouted as he swung, landing a strong hit on Beast's back.

Roxas's attack caused Beast to roar loudly in pain for a minute, but after he stopped roaring, he spun around to level a fierce glare on his attacker, and Roxas had no trouble of returning the look with a glare of his own, even as he held his Keyblade in front of him with both hands still gripping the handle as he let the blade's tip point at an upwards angle. Seeing Roxas stand in the way he did would likely have reminded Sora and Ventus of Cloud's typical battle stance were they not more concerned with the fact that the younger blonde was attacking their friend. Then again, Beast was also on the attack, so they were not entirely sure who they should move to try and stop, assuming they could stop the Beast. In the end, they did not have to do much, as Roxas began charging again, only to end up swatted away the minute he was within arm's reach of the Beast, and he was sent tumbling into the recovering Xion as a result.

They all then watched as Beast carefully picked up the jar with the strange rose inside, nuzzle the jar for a moment like a precious child, and then spin around as he stalked off, taking very short, cautious strides as if he were afraid he would drop the rose if he did not watch his step as he went. The whole time he was doing all of this, he did not spare any of the group a single glance, so he more than likely missed the way Roxas was glaring at him as he left, the worried looks that the rest of the boys were shooting him, and how Xion was just looking between each of the occupants of the room and the door in an attempt to try and better understand what she just saw.

"…What just happened," Xion finally asked after another minute.

"I'm not really sure myself," Ventus admitted with a small groan as he helped Donald and Goofy up.

"Gee, do ya think he maybe forgot who we are," Goofy wondered.

"With this many Heartless around, something must be up," Sora reasoned after using a little healing magic on his sibling apprentices.

"Why'd he have to do that," Donald grumbled as he rubbed the side of his head where he had been hit.

"Gee, I don't know. Maybe because that's exactly how an animal would act," Roxas sarcastically remarked, surprising the others with both his comment and his agitated tone.

"Roxas," Xion questioned.

"What? I know you were all paying attention. That thing may have saved us from the Heartless, but a minute later, he just attacked us like any other mindless animal would."

"Beast is not mindless, and he's not an animal," Sora retorted as he stepped closer to Roxas as a show of how upset the blonde's words were making him.

"Could've fooled me," Roxas snapped back.

"Last I checked animals can't talk," Sora argued. A minute later, he turned to Donald and Goofy, and sheepishly corrected, "Well… _most_ animals can't talk."

"I feel like Donald and Goofy don't really count in this case," Xion whispered to herself.

"Just because something can speak, it doesn't mean they're intelligent," Roxas pointed out. "Face it, that _thing_ isn't an ally, it's a monster."

"He is not! Beast is our friend, and there's obviously something wrong with him," Sora snapped back, now looking about as angry as Roxas had when the argument started.

Roxas himself had only been getting angrier as this carried on, and it showed when he pushed it a little further. "Just because someone helps you it doesn't mean they're a friend. Maybe if you weren't always living it up like everything's all sunshine and rainbows, or even tried to use what little bit of brain power you possess, you could see that just as easily as anyone else."

"You saying I'm stupid or that I shouldn't try and help out my friends," Sora demanded, his fingers starting to flex as if he were going to summon his Keyblade.

"Well from what I've seen, you haven't really done much to help us so far when we're on other worlds, and I haven't seen anything to indicate that you're smart," Roxas snapped back in kind, already moving to hold Oblivion in both hands as he assumed the battle stance he had just improvised on a moment ago.

It was at that point that Ventus decided to intervene, and he quickly stepped between the two boys. "All right, that's enough," the bearded blonde stated, making sure that the distance between Sora and Roxas was large enough so that neither of them would be able to easily take a swing at the other. "Look, Sora, I get where Roxas is coming from. As far as he knows, this is the first time he and Xion have ever met Beast, so you can't blame him for having a hard time believing any claims we make, and it's not like we really know Beast that well, personally."

"But Ven…" Sora started to say.

"Just hear me out," Ventus interrupted. "I do understand it, but at the same time, I also agree with you when I say that something is definitely wrong here. The Heartless may have something to do with it, or it may be something else that we don't know about, but we can't really say for sure just yet. Which is why we should try and figure things out before we do anything else."

"Well here's an idea, we destroy the Heartless and free anyone that animal's holding here as a prisoner, or a meal, and leave," Roxas offered, still clearly upset and angry by the whole thing.

Sora was now ready to charge Roxas after he heard that, and likely would have if it were not for Ventus holding him back with one arm, and Xion stepping over to try and reason with her brother. "Roxas, I know you're upset, but if Ven and Sora both say that Beast is a good guy, then maybe there is something more going on here," the girl reasoned. "We should at least try and see if there's something going on and then try and help."

"You can't be serious," Roxas grumbled. "You want to stay and try and help that creature, even after what just happened?"

"I'm not saying that I'm okay with getting tossed aside like a ragdoll, but I am willing to keep an open mind about what our friends are saying," Xion clarified. "Let's just give them a chance to prove they're right, okay?"

Roxas just stared angrily between the occupants of the room, and when he clearly saw that he was outnumbered, he just huffed in concession of the group's decision and stomped out of the room, with the others following after him, most of them with worried expressions. Sora was the only one who was of a different story, because he continued to glare at Roxas's back for how the blonde had just been talking about Beast. Obviously he felt like he was still liable to attack Roxas for his earlier judgment of Beast, so he made it a point to stay at the back of the group so there were a good number of people between the two of them. If anyone noticed that, they did not think about it too much, because they needed to focus on their new objective. The only question they faced now was how they were to go about solving this mystery of what was wrong with Beast.

Thankfully, they did not need to think or look too hard to find any possible leads, because it was not long after they left the parlor, Donald stopped short and began looking towards a corridor at one end of the stairway. "What is it," Ventus questioned.

"I just know that I saw a lady at the top of those stairs," Donald muttered, prompting everyone to look towards the location he had indicated.

"Well…If the Beast is here in the castle, that lady musta been Belle, right," Goofy reasoned.

"Yeah, maybe so," Sora shrugged.

"Belle…she's one of the Princesses of Heart, right," Xion recalled.

"Yep, and she's the Beast's girlfriend, too," Donald confirmed.

"More like a prisoner suffering from Stockholm syndrome," Roxas muttered.

Now Sora was sure he was going to slug Roxas for his attitude, until Ventus intervened once again. "If Belle is here, then she must have some idea of what's going on. After all, being a Princess of Heart, she does posses the an innate sense for darkness, even without knowing it, and I doubt she's forgotten about the dangers that the Heartless pose after the part they played in her kidnapping from this world a year ago, so if anyone knows what's going on with the Beast, or just any problems relating to the Heartless in general, she's our best bet to finding out."

"C'mon! Let's go find her," Goofy encouraged in agreement, and like that, they were all following Donald up the stairs and towards the east wing of the castle, where he had claimed to have seen Belle heading.

Roxas was not quite as eager in their rush as the others, but he did still keep up enough so that he would be able to jump in should they run into another fight. Still, there was something about the younger blonde's recent skepticism and temperament that had Ventus a little worried, and while he did have a hunch on what the cause was, he figured it would be better to worry about it later. After all, it was just a theory, and they had a few more important things to worry about right now.

* * *

Everyone was very glad that they did not run into too many more Heartless as they explored more of Beast's castle, but they did find themselves quickly annoyed by another new kind of Heartless that Jiminy identified as Hook Bats. Though that may have had something to do with the tension between Roxas and Sora, as the two were definitely trying to keep their distance from one another as much as possible, and on the rare occasions that they failed to do so, they seemed liable to snap at one another over every little thing. Thankfully, any problems between the boys never seemed to escalate beyond angry words and annoyed huffs, and they all soon forgot about those problems when they heard a soft noise coming from one of the rooms up ahead, prompting them all to go quiet and start sneaking closer to the room in question.

As they went, Xion and Roxas could not help but feel a certain sense of nostalgia from sneaking around like this, and they could only assume that it was due to something that they experienced during their time with Organization. Whether it was in this particular castle or a similar location, they could not say, but since it was just a feeling, they kept quiet about it. After all, it was not like it was a solid memory so they saw no reason to bring it up to the rest of their friends.

"Oh, what am I going to do," they all suddenly heard a woman's voice bemoaning in worry, and they took that as their cue to surround the door that the voice had come from.

Once they were all in position, Ventus motioned for someone to discreetly open the door, but from the way he started backing up, it looked as though Donald had other ideas. "Okay," the duck determined, and a minute later, he was rushing forward, despite everyone else's warnings to wait. Just as he was about to make contact with the door, it suddenly flung open, and Donald was left to stumble into the room, face-first into a large amount of dust, much to his annoyance. "Hey! Who opened the door?"

"Uh…I think she did," Xion quietly whispered in reply, indicating the room's sole occupant with a surprised look on her face.

Roxas seemed just as surprised as Xion, because inside the room was a woman with fair skin, and brown hair that was tied back with a blue bow. She wore a long dress that matched the color of said bow, and the rest of her attire consisted of a white shirt and apron, and a pair of black shoes. The only thing that was more beautiful about this woman was the way her eyes sparkled in recognition as her smile lit up the room upon seeing who had just unexpectedly tumbled into her room, despite the annoyance of said person. That same smile was shared by Sora, Ventus, and Goofy as well, and Donald soon after when they recognized the woman as someone they had met on their last adventure, even if they had only officially met her during their second visit to Hollow Bastion a year ago.

"Oh, I'm so happy you're here," Belle exclaimed as she scooped Donald up and pulled him in for a very tight hug, much to his protests. "Donald! Sora! Goofy! Master Ventus!"

"Hiya," Sora politely greeted as he and Goofy both waved hello.

"It's good to see you again," Ventus nodded. "Though, you can just call me Ven."

Belle smiled a little more upon hearing that, and was about to comment on the matter when she finally realized just how tightly she was squeezing Donald and heard him begging her to put him down. Her smile turned a little sheepish at that point, even as she released the poor duck at last, and the others could only giggle lightly at Donald's previous predicament, even as his eyes spun a little from the aftermath of said moment. When the laughter finally ceased, Belle soon took notice of Roxas and Xion, and it was no surprise that a curious expression soon graced her lovely features upon seeing the twins.

"Hi, I'm Xion, and this is my brother, Roxas. We're new to the group," the raven haired girl greeted, mainly because from what she could tell, Roxas was still a little out of it from the sight of the woman before her.

"It's very nice to meet both you and your brother, mademoiselle," Belle said in return.

That last word that Belle said left Xion a little confused and she could not help but give voice to it. "Uh…what was that last word?"

"Mademoiselle. It means 'miss,'" Belle clarified with a slightly amused smile. "I'm guessing you don't know a great deal of French."

"Not really," Xion helplessly shrugged in admittance, her smile not faltering even a little.

"I'm working on that…sort of," Ventus reassured Belle, though he did keep the last bit a little quieter than the rest. He then noticed that Belle was studying him, Xion, and Roxas rather closely, and could not help but ask, "What is it?"

"Nothing, it's just…I was wondering if Xion and Roxas were related to you in any way," Belle explained. "I mean, Xion said Roxas was her brother, and since Roxas looks so much like you…"

"We're not related in any way beyond teacher and student. Any resemblance between me and Roxas is purely coincidental," Ventus clarified for her. When Belle just nodded and continued to scrutinize though, he quickly figured out the other reason, and immediately slumped his shoulders in slight dismay. "You're also a little surprised by my beard now, aren't you?"

"Well, I didn't want to say anything, but…" Belle started to say, her tone honestly apologetic as an extra show of how she was not trying to offend her friend.

"Don't worry about it. I've been getting that a lot lately," Ventus reassured her in resignation, much to everyone's amusement.

It was not until Xion realized who was not laughing that her own amusement came to an end, and she quickly turned to the person in question to see he was still staring at Belle in wonder. Feeling that his staring had reached the point of rudeness, and seeing an opportunity for teasing her brother, she quickly elbowed Roxas in the side, and smugly said, "I know she's really pretty, Rox, but you really shouldn't be staring like that. What would Naminé think if she found out you were looking at other women?"

Roxas's face immediately turned red after hearing him say that, and pulled everyone's attention to him soon after. "I-I wasn't…Well, I mean I was staring, but not for that reason," he insisted. "I'm just…a little surprised. I didn't expect…"

"What? That the Beast's girlfriend would be so pretty, so nice, or did you just think we were lying about her being a friend too," Sora accused, his previous anger at Roxas starting to show itself again.

"I never said you were lying," Roxas countered, though with a very noticeable bite.

"You might as well have," Sora bit back.

"All right, that's enough you two," Ventus cut in once again, but the two just huffed and turned away from each other. It would have been amusing how much this reminded Ventus of the argument that Sora and Donald had on Deep Jungle a year ago if they were not in the middle of something so important. "I'm sorry about that. We just had a run-in with the Beast, and he wasn't all that…friendly at the time. Needless to say it's left a pretty bad impression on Roxas."

"I can understand," Belle nodded, her happy mood having noticeably dropped upon hearing this. "To be honest, Beast hasn't really been himself for quite a while now. We don't even talk like we used to, now."

"Did something happen," Sora asked, now more invested in this conversation than he was in arguing with Roxas.

"Yes. Isn't that why you're here," Belle asked.

That got the team to exchange some uneasy looks between one another, since she was not really wrong, but at the same time, it was still not the full reason for their being here. Still, that did not mean they were going to ignore a friend in need, as Goofy proved when he replied, "Not exactly, but we can still help."

"Since we're here and all," Sora agreed, with the others all nodding along as well. Well, most of them did.

"Ow," Roxas snapped in response to the sharp elbow that Xion snapped into his side when she saw he was not agreeing as well. This time, she was not as gentle as before, and it showed in his irritated face. "Why is everyone hitting me today?"

"Maybe because you're giving them plenty of good reasons," Sora muttered.

Thankfully his retort went unheard, as everyone was more focused on the problem at hand. "The Beast won't talk to you," Donald asked.

Belle shook her head in negative response. "He's been acting strange lately."

"Do you think the Heartless may have something to do with it," Ventus proposed.

"I'm not so sure. The Heartless were a big problem around here for a while, and Beast was doing everything he could to keep them from hurting anyone, but then one day, they suddenly started disappearing on their own. It was not until after this really big and dangerous one was destroyed that the Heartless stopped appearing, and for a while, I thought things would get better. Then, Beast started acting strangely, and the Heartless began appearing again shortly after that," Belle revealed.

Hearing her recounting of recent events made Roxas and Xion think for a little bit, and after a few minutes of thinking, Roxas had to ask, "That really big Heartless you mentioned…did you ever see it?"

"I got one or two glimpses of it from the balcony," Belle confirmed, though it was obvious that she was not entirely sure why he was asking.

"Would you say that it was box-like, seemingly mechanical, and with four black wheels? Maybe had a few smaller Heartless riding on top that fought with bows and arrows," Roxas continued to ask.

"Yes, that does sound a lot like it," Belle nodded again. "How did you know? Have you seen it before?"

"I…I'm not sure," Roxas admitted, scratching his head in obvious frustration. "I don't know why that image came to my mind, but…for some reason that seemed like something I saw before."

"Gawrsh, maybe it's some of your memories coming back to ya that gave you the idea," Goofy suggested.

"That would make sense," Xion hesitantly agreed. "I mean, I'm starting to remember a few things about this place too, but I don't remember anything about a Heartless like that."

"I don't think you were there when I ran into it. I feel like I was actually alone when I fought it," Roxas informed Xion.

"That would make sense. You two did tend to have a good number of missions alone while you were with the Organization from what I saw," Ventus revealed. When he took notice of how Belle was now looking very confused, he quickly realized that they had unintentionally drifted away from their previous topic and left her very out of the loop, so it was only natural that they apologize and clue her in. "Xion and Roxas can't really remember much about the last year of their lives due to events beyond their control, and part of the reason we're journeying is to help them remember."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," Belle told the twins in question.

"Don't be. It's not like you had anything to do with it," Xion reassured her. She then decided to make the best of this opportunity and asked, "Though I have to ask, since it does seem like we remember visiting this castle before, do you remember ever encountering me and Roxas, or anyone like us? We would've been wearing black coats at the time."

Belle had to think for a moment before she finally said, "Sorry, but I've only ever seen one person in a black coat recently, and he was much bigger than either one of you."

"Well, it was worth a shot," Xion sighed in response.

"But at least now we know that the Organization has been here recently, so maybe they have something to do with whatever's wrong with the Beast," Sora offered.

"From what I've seen of their members when I had a chance to spy on them, some of them did seem to have a particular talent for manipulating the hearts of others in some way," Ventus agreed.

"Or it could just be that they're bringing out the person's true nature," Roxas grumbled, only to grunt in pain again as he received another sharp jab from Xion's elbow. "OW! Stop doing that! I'm just saying!"

"Well stop saying, before you get anyone else mad at you," Xion advised, having seen that Roxas's attitude was now starting to annoy a lot more people than Sora.

"Either way, the only ones who would really know for sure about why the Beast is acting so strangely are locked up in the dungeon," Belle revealed. "I want to help them, but…"

"Wait a second. Who locked who up," Sora asked, as he was now the one feeling lost.

"The Beast locked up his servants," Belle clarified.

"Why would he do that," Donald asked.

"That's what I don't know."

Hearing that was a little disheartening, but they would have kidding themselves if they had actually thought Belle would have known everything that they needed to know, so that left them with an easy choice. "Where's this dungeon," Sora asked.

"Down in the undercroft. You can get to it from the west hall," Belle instructed.

"You thinking what I think you're thinking, kid," Ventus asked.

"Yep. We go free the servants and see if they can help us get the Beast back to his old self," Sora explained for everyone.

"And if our mystery Organization member is there," Xion asked.

"Well, that's why we learn how to fight and use magic," Sora pointed out, summoning his Keyblade for greater emphasis.

"Be careful, all the same," Belle requested, and the group all nodded in unison.

Just as he was turning to leave with the rest of the group, Roxas suddenly felt someone gently grasping his arm in a silent request to wait, and he turned to see that the hand holding him back was Belle's. It did not take too much for him to guess why she stopped him, so he could not stop the tired sigh from escaping past his lips. "Let me guess: you're going to try and convince me that the Beast isn't a monster too, right," Roxas asked.

"Only partially. I'd actually like to tell you a short story," Belle corrected. "You see, when I first came to this castle, I was looking for my father. I found him locked in the dungeon, and he was very sick. The Beast refused to let him go until I offered to take his place, and that was the last time I saw him."

"So you are a prisoner, just like I thought," Roxas concluded.

"Not exactly. If I really was a prisoner, then why would I be given a room this nice instead of being locked in the dungeon," Belle disputed. When she saw the boy could not come up with a response, she continued on with her story. "During my first days here, Beast was mean, course, unrefined, and his temper was very terrible. To be honest, I didn't want anything to do with him at the time, but then, when I tried to run away, I was attacked by wolves. I would have been killed had the Beast not come to my rescue. He saved my life, and from that moment on, I could see that he really was a kind, gentle soul who cares for me and others a great deal on the inside. That's why he was able to reach Hollow Bastion when I was taken there a year ago, and I'm sure that kindness is still there."

Even after all of that, Roxas was still unsure what to think. He wanted to believe what Belle was telling him; what everyone was telling him, but so far, he had not seen anything to prove that. Add in the fact that it seemed like everyone was out to get him today, at least in his eyes, and it was only natural that the only response he could give was not very kind. "Well let me know when it's on the outside, and maybe I'll be able to believe a little easier."

As the boy turned to follow his teammates, Belle could only watch him go with a sad look on her face. She could tell that Roxas was a good person, but more than that, she could somehow sense that there was something wrong with him. She was not sure what, but she did know that whatever it was that was affecting the boy, it was most certainly something very dark.

* * *

It was not long before the group found their way into the west hall, even with the Heartless that they had to fight along the way, and all throughout that time, Roxas was decidedly more vicious in the way he fought. Every time they came across the Heartless, Roxas would charge in and start slashing away with a mad abandon that was almost similar to that of a berserker. It was not an ineffective strategy, but it was a dangerous one, and it was beginning to worry everyone. Even Sora was starting to grow concerned for the former Nobody, but since he was still pretty mad at Roxas, he was determined to keep his distance for the time being. Of course, there was something else about how Roxas was fighting that got some of the group's attention.

Ever since their encounter with the Beast, Ventus and Xion could not help but notice that Roxas was only fighting with Oblivion. At first they figured it was because he was trying to get used to his new battle stance, but that also raised the question as to why he had not been using Oathkeeper to help as well. After all, it did not make sense to only adapt the style for one specific Keyblade when he could use two, and more than that, but the two also had to note that Roxas had been using Oblivion almost every time he only used one Keyblade lately. Add in the fact that his temper and attitude had been slowly getting worse ever since he started doing so, and it was only natural that Ven and Xion would start thinking that there were a few connections between the two.

Before either of them could say anything, they finally came into the west hall, and Sora said, "There should be a way into the undercroft around here, right?"

"Among other things, yeah," Roxas muttered, surprising the others with his sudden input.

"Do you remember something else, Roxas," Donald inquired.

"All I can remember right now is a vague recollection of various secret passageways in this castle, and that I used them to sneak around whenever I was here, be it alone or with other members of the Organization. Nothing more specific than that," Roxas shortly replied.

"Well, it's still something to keep in mind," Ventus stated before anyone could say something that could set Roxas or any other person in their group off. "Xion, has anything come back to you about that?"

"Nothing other than what Roxas mentioned," Xion shrugged. A minute later though, she found that she did have something else to add, and did so. "I think I do remember where the entrance to the undercroft is."

"Lead the way then," Ventus encouraged, and they all soon fell into step behind her. Not that they had to go too far, mind you, as Xion quickly came to a stop beside a wardrobe at the other end of the hallway.

"It should be right here," Xion informed the group. "Someone must've moved this wardrobe here to block the entrance."

"Not the most clever way to hide an entrance, but it is a good attempt," Ventus shrugged, feeling that he should at least give the person who tried this a small bit of praise for trying.

Everyone else could only shrug in reply before they all moved to push the wardrobe aside. It should have been an easy enough task, and it was for a moment, but just when they had nearly gotten it away from the door, the wardrobe suddenly lurched a little, turned towards them with the face of an annoyed woman, and asked, "Do you MIND?!"

The entire team was so startled that they jumped back from the wardrobe and remained frozen in place as it hopped right back to where it had been standing before. Things only continued to grow even more unbelievable when the wardrobe closed its eyes and began to snore a little indicating that it was now asleep, and that was what finally prompted someone in the group to finally question what had just happened. "Did that wardrobe just yell at us and move on its own," Sora asked.

"Shh! Sora, quiet! We don't want to wake her up," Goofy hushed.

"It shouldn't be waking up in the first place," Donald immediately retorted in a whisper.

"I swear, just when I think I've seen it all, the worlds find some way to prove me wrong," Ventus muttered to himself.

"On the bright side, I guess we now know why Roxas and I had memories of moving furniture when we saw this place from the ship," Xion pointed out in a more optimistic tone.

"Yeah, great. Can we just move this wardrobe…lady…whatever the thing is out of the way now? We still need to get through that door," Roxas cut in, moving to shove the wardrobe aside again.

"Wait a minute, Roxas," Ventus cautioned. "We still don't know if this wardrobe is friendly or not, so maybe we should try to avoid waking it up again."

"It's a large, hunk of wood full of things like clothes and brushes. How much of a threat can it be," Roxas questioned.

"I don't know? How much of a threat do you think a single Heartless can be, even if it's just a simple Shadow," Ventus offered in return.

"That's completely different," Roxas disputed.

"Is it? As we've clearly just seen, you should never judge something or someone by their appearance, because even the most unassuming of things can surprise you," Ventus reasoned out, taking the opportunity to try and teach another lesson to his kids.

Roxas just rolled his eyes in response, feeling that it was another attempt by the older blonde to convince him that the Beast was not the monster he believed him to be, but all the same, he did heed Ven's advice and opted to be a little gentler in his attempts to move the wardrobe away from the door. After another second or two, Sora came in to help speed things along, offering only a nod to Roxas as a sign of good will, and with the two of them working together, the sleeping wardrobe was finally moved clear of the door, allowing entrance to the undercroft at last.

Everyone had to try very hard to keep themselves from cheering loudly at the boys' success, but it seemed that they were not out of trouble yet, as a large amount of dust had been kicked up from when Sora and Roxas were moving the wardrobe. That dust had steadily collected inside of Donald's nose to the point where, by the time the wardrobe had been moved clear, he could not help but feel like he was about to sneeze. Goofy realized this before anyone else and quickly rushed over to snap Donald's beak shut before it was too late. Everyone sighed in relief when they saw Goofy had averted the disaster, but it was short lived, as a second later, Goofy let out a loud sneeze of his own, startling the wardrobe awake once again, much to everyone's dismay.

"And I was just starting to get comfortable," the wardrobe miserably moaned as she finally stood up straight from the wall she was leaning against.

"Uh…Sorry for waking you, ma'am," Ventus hesitantly apologized, not really sure if it would help or not.

"Oh no, don't worry yourself too much. May I help any of you," the wardrobe politely offered in return, acting like it was no trouble at all.

No one was sure how to react to this, or really anything that had just happened, but when it finally registered that the wardrobe was no threat and offering to help them, they figured they should just cut right to the chase. "We're friends of Belle's," Sora explained. "She said that she needed us to go to the dungeon."

"Goodness! You're here to help my friends," the wardrobe exclaimed happily.

"I guess so."

"Well why didn't you say so," the wardrobe happily chuckled.

"Er…um…" Now Sora was not sure what to say, but only because he knew that most responses he could have given would likely have been viewed as very rude.

Roxas on the other hand, had no problems with being as blunt as possible. "Because normally, you don't need to so much as ask a wardrobe to move out of the way, since they aren't supposed to be alive."

"Roxas," Xion hissed.

"No, no, it's all right," the dresser reassured the young girl with a chuckle. "Believe me; this isn't really normal for me either. Why, even Belle was a little startled when we first met. You see, I actually used to be human, until…"

"You were put under some kind of spell," Xion finished for her. When she realized that her sudden interruption had earned her a few surprised looks, Xion just shrugged and said, "I'm not sure how I know that, but it just seemed to be the only thing that made sense."

"Oh, that's quite all right, dear. You're not entirely wrong, anyway," the wardrobe explained. "It wasn't just me who was changed by the enchantress's spell, but everyone in the castle was transformed too when the prince was turned into a beast."

"The prince…" Sora repeated in disbelief.

"The Beast is a prince," Goofy asked in equal surprise.

"Doesn't really act all that princely," Roxas commented, and this time, no one disagreed with him. Even when they first met the Beast a year ago, none of the team had ever gotten the impression that he could have been royalty of any kind.

"Well to be fair, his behavior was far from princely even before the enchantress had cast her spell," the wardrobe admitted.

"Can you tell us anything else about this spell," Ventus asked out of both curiosity and wonder. A part of him could not help but think that maybe they could do something to help reverse this spell if they knew a little more about it, but somehow, he had a feeling that this would be one of those matters that they could not get involved with.

"Well I suppose I could…" the wardrobe began, and the others all leaned in a little closer, eager to hear whatever story she was about to tell. They ended up nearly falling flat on their faces in disbelief though, when she finished, "But it'll have to wait until you rescue the others."

"Aww," Donald groaned on everyone's behalf.

"Not cool," Roxas and Xion both muttered.

"Well it is important that you hurry, after all, the dungeon is damp and chilly. Certainly no place for a clock," the wardrobe insisted.

"A clock," Goofy repeated.

"What do clocks have anything to do with this," Roxas asked.

"You'll find out soon enough," the wardrobe insisted, and with that, she started trotting away, likely to find a new place to nap.

"Well…that happened. Now, let's get going," Ventus commented, not really sure what else he could say at that point.

The others all agreed with Ven's choice of words and slowly followed him down into the undercroft. Not that they had to go too far, as the descent to the undercroft was quite short, and there only seemed to be one other room at the bottom of the staircase as far as they could see. That same room was sealed shut by a stone door that seemed to be held closed by a pair of gargoyles. "This must be it," Sora observed.

"Then let's hurry up and get those guys out," Roxas decided, summoning Oblivion into his right hand as he did.

Seeing her brother call out that Keyblade once again, Xion finally decided to bring up the matter she was so concerned about. "Roxas, wait a minute," she called, making the blonde stop just when he was within reach of the door. "Can we talk?"

"If this is about the Beast, then no, we can't. Besides, I thought we were in a hurry," Roxas immediately replied.

"No, it's not that, and I don't think it'll take too long," Xion reassured him. "If anything, it's about the way you've been acting lately."

"What do you mean by that? I'm as normal as ever," Roxas insisted, not necessarily angry, but he was definitely confused.

"No, you haven't. You've been a lot more short-tempered than usual, more aggressive in the way you fight, and you've been acting like everyone's out to get you even before we got here," Xion insisted. "And I can't help but think it might be because…"

Roxas was a little confused by how Xion stopped short in her mini-speech, and was about to prompt her to continue what she was saying when he noticed that she appeared to be a little frightened by something. "Xion? What is it," Roxas asked. The girl did not answer him, and he was about to ask again when he noticed that the others all had similar freaked out expressions on their faces as well. After a few more minutes, he finally realized that none of them were directed at him, and he could only come to one conclusion. "There's something really bad right behind me, isn't there?"

The rest of the team could only nod in response, and Roxas slowly turned around to see that the gargoyles on the door had suddenly gained a lot more color and come to life, each holding the lock of the door in their shorter hands, while the other hands stretched out with the intent to slash him apart with their long, yellow claws. Thinking quickly, Donald summoned out his staff and cast a quick blast of Thunder on the gargoyles, stunning it just long enough for Roxas to scramble back over to the others, all of whom were summoning their weapons as they moved closer to Roxas as well. A second later though, more Hook Bats appeared around the door, along with a pair of what looked like living, winged statues, one wielding an axe in its clawed hands, and the other a sword.

"Uh…Jiminy," Sora started to ask, only to find that he did not need to, as the cricket had started flipping through his journal the minute that the Heartless had appeared before them.

"Got it! The ones on either side of the door are a Gargoyle Knight and a Gargoyle Warrior," Jiminy reported.

"Well, which one's which," Xion questioned.

"The Knight is the one with the sword, and the warrior's the one with the axe," Jiminy clarified for the girl. "They're normally known to hide in regular gargoyle statues so that they can ambush an unsuspecting victim with surprise attacks, but that doesn't make any less strong. As for whatever the Heartless that's holding the door closed is…I've got nothing. There's nothing in my journal about it at all!"

"So we'll have to be extra careful while we deal with this…Thresholder," Ventus determined, naming the commanding Heartless as he did. "All right. Donald, Goofy, and Xion, you three help me deal with the Hook Bats and those Gargoyles. Sora and Roxas, the Thresholder's all yours."

"Seriously," Roxas groaned in protest. "Can I trade partners with someone?"

"Hey! That's my line," Sora snapped.

"No, neither of you can, and this is not up for debate. Now go," Ventus snapped, slashing his Keyblade through a Hook Bat that had flown in close to him.

Just like that, the battle got underway, and Goofy was soon blocking a very powerful strike from the Gargoyle Warrior's axe, while Xion locked blades with the Gargoyle Knight. Donald and Ven both took the chance to fire off a few spells at the Hook Bats flapping around them, which became easier after Ven used the spell Gravity to pull the winged terrors down to Earth and hold them in place long enough for either him or Donald to finish them off. As a side effect, Ven's spell also made the two Gargoyles falter in their attempts to break through Xion and Goofy's guards, and the two were quickly able to break the locks and unleash a few attacks of their own. Xion's fast paced slashes allowed her to make quick work of the Gargoyle Knight, but since his shield was a much more blunt type of a weapon, Goofy had to work a little harder before he finally destroyed the Gargoyle Warrior. With their target Heartless dealt with, both the young girl and the knight turned to provide their other friends with some assistance in dealing with the remaining Hook Bats, all the while hoping that the two arguing boys could handle dealing with the Thresholder for now.

Thankfully, Roxas and Sora were able to put aside their differences and work together in battle quite well this time, as they were both covering for the other as they avoided whatever attacks the Thresholder launched with its long arms. Most of the time, Roxas was the one to make an attack on the strange Heartless, but most of the time, his plan was to just rush in and hit it as hard as he could with Oblivion. That ended up getting the blonde hit by many of the Thresholder's attacks, resulting in either a great deal of pain for Roxas, or Sora having to abandon his own attempts to hit it in order to help Roxas in any way that he could. After having to break off another charge to push Roxas out of the way before he was flattened by one of the Thresholder's massive fists, Sora was starting to get more than a little annoyed, but it only really showed on his face for a moment, because he soon noticed that the Thresholder was losing its grip on the door's keyhole.

Taking the chance to try and force the door open, Sora immediately aimed his Keyblade towards the center of the blocked entrance and fired out a beam of light from Kingdom Key. He figured that getting the door open would force the two halves of the Thresholder apart, but what happened instead was something else entirely. After his beam had struck, the Thresholder suddenly went limp before it froze completely, and a second later, what looked like a ball of smoke with yellow eyes and a thin, jagged red mouth seemed to be spat out of its body. The ball of smoke eventually just started floating around the room like it was in a dazed state and unsure where to go or what to do, and the two boys were no really much better than it. Luckily, someone was able to get the Keybearers back to the situation at hand when he suddenly shouted out from inside of Sora's hood.

"Oh my stars above! So that's what was really behind the Thresholder! A Possessor," Jiminy cried out. Before either Sora or Roxas could ask what the cricket meant by that, he quickly informed them, "You fellas need to hurry and destroy that thing now before it can get back into the Thresholder and do any more damage, or worse, take over something else to attack us all with!"

They may not have fully understood what was going on, but Sora and Roxas were able to get enough of what Jiminy was so worked up about to follow his advice, and they both quickly chased after the ball of smoke the cricket had identified as a Possessor. Not that they were having much success, because despite its apparently disoriented state, the Possessor was quite nimble and quick enough to keep them at a distance. To make matters worse, the number of Hook Bats in the room only seemed to grow with each passing second, which meant that the rest of the team was starting to get overwhelmed despite their best attempts. Looking around the room and seeing all this happen prompted Sora to suddenly skid to a halt and aim his Keyblade all over the room in preparation to fire off one of his most powerful Shotlocks: Trinity Force. Sure, that might have been overkill, but at that point, Sora was not really in the mood for being merciful towards the Heartless.

Before he could unleash the power of his Shotlock, Sora suddenly had another thought, and stopped building up the power of his attack. He then started infusing his Keyblade with a strange element of magic that he was not entirely familiar with, and then sent it flying with a powerful toss, as he shouted, "Reflect Raid!"

All the others heard of Sora's cry was the last word, and they all assumed that meant he was trying to use Strike Raid on one of the Heartless. Naturally, they were all left very surprised when they saw Kingdom Key strike the Possessor and then split into multiple copies of itself that flew off in several different directions, striking whatever enemy lay in that random path before splitting into even more copies that also went flying. It left a good number of them quite surprised, since by the time the attack ended, the only Heartless left in the room was the Possessor, and it was looking much weaker than before now. Thankfully, they were able to shake it off and move in to help finish off the Possessor.

Xion struck first by landing a fast slash with her Keyblade, using the momentum of the swing to help her spin around so that she could fire off a blast of Blizzard from her free hand. The icy spell was easily accompanied by a Thundara spell that Donald had cast at that same moment, and Goofy was soon to follow after with a hard bash to the Possessor's head from his shield. The knight then spun around and allowed Ven to use his shield as a springboard, catapulting the Keyblade master into the air and into the perfect position for him to land a few aerial strikes on the Possessor while it was disoriented. Roxas then rushed in and finished the fight by jumping into the air and landing a powerful, downwards slash. With that last attack, the others all watched as the Thresholder finally burst into the smoke that always followed a Heartless's defeat, while the Possessor itself vanished into thin air. Somehow, they all knew that they had not seen the last of that Heartless yet, but the team could not worry about that right now. There were still people to free from the dungeon.

Roxas was about to try the door to the dungeon to see if it was open, when Ven suddenly placed a hand on his shoulder, stopping him from doing so. "How long have you been using Oblivion for," the Keyblade master questioned.

"Is that a serious question? You know how long I've had it," Roxas replied, not really understanding the meaning behind Ven's question.

Seeing this, Ven quickly clarified, "I mean, how long have you been using it as the Keyblade you summon whenever you only use one of your two Keyblades?"

"Oh," was all that Roxas could say after realizing what Ven meant. "I don't know. I guess I've almost always used it whenever I just summon one of my Keyblades. I mean, why wouldn't I? It's the stronger one of the two in terms of strength, and while Oathkeeper is normally the best one to use for magic, I don't really use magic too much, so it just makes sense for me to use Oblivion more often."

"I thought so," Ventus nodded in reply. He then looked to Xion, and when the girl nodded in reply, he knew that she had the same thought as him, which made his next decision pretty obvious. "Roxas, I want you to use Oathkeeper for the rest of the time that we're here whenever you use only one of your Keyblades, and maybe even for a little longer than that."

"What?! Didn't you hear a word I just said," Roxas questioned.

"I did, and that's why I'm telling you to use Oathkeeper instead," Ventus replied. Before Roxas could say anything more in protest, Ventus quickly explained, "Roxas, do you remember what you said to me a while back during an earlier training session? About how you think that only using one of your Keyblades too much might affect you in some way? I think that we're starting to see some evidence that your theory may be right in how you've been acting lately."

"That's what I was trying to say earlier. What if your recent change in attitude is a sign that using Oblivion for so long is starting to make your darkness a little stronger than your light," Xion cottoned on a minute later, hoping that her two cents would help convince her brother of what they were saying.

Roxas looked between both his sister and his teacher for a minute, before he finally took a deep breath and let out in a long, tired sigh as he dismissed Oblivion in a haze of shadow, and allowed Oathkeeper to take its place a second later in a flash of light. "I'm not sure if I should hope that you guys are right about this or not, but I'll humor you for now," Roxas informed them.

That was good enough for both Xion and Ventus, and apparently, it was good enough for Sora too, as he was the one who next spoke up. "Alright guys, if there's nothing else we have to worry about, it's time we got down there and did some rescuing."

"Right behind ya, Sora," Donald agreed.

"Yeah, let's go and set those servants free," Goofy added, and everyone then proceeded into the dungeon, thinking that they had dealt with the worst for now.

* * *

The dungeon ended up being a bit larger than they were expecting, and consisted of both the typical cells and larger rooms that were only secured by heavy, wooden doors. If the set-up were not so simple, they were sure that they would have ended up lost in a maze. The only thing that they did not find anywhere in the place so far were people. Not a single cell showed any sign of there being anyone down here, and the last room was just as void as the imprisoned servants. All they could find in this last room was a candelabra, a clock, a teapot, and a single teacup.

"There's nobody here," Sora finally sighed.

"Actually, there's TWO nobodies here," Xion joked, indicating herself and Roxas when she did.

That got a brief chuckle out of everyone before Ventus stated, "Either way, it doesn't look like there's anyone down here."

"You mean there's nobody to rescue," Donald questioned.

Before Roxas could warn his sister off of making another joke, another voice that did not belong to anyone in their group suddenly asked, "Did someone say 'rescue'?"

"Shhh! Keep quiet. It might be THEM," another man's voice hushed.

"Oh, they look like nice dears to me," a third voice soothed, this one being a woman that sounded very motherly.

"We are nice. We're your friends," Goofy called out to the room at large.

"Whoa, whoa! Wait a minute! Who even said that," Roxas questioned as he snatched up the candelabra in an attempt to better illuminate the room.

"Over here," the first voice stated.

"Where," Roxas asked, spinning around to face the voice, only to find no one there besides Donald and Goofy, both of whom could only shrug as if to silently say they did not know where the speaker was either.

Just before Roxas or anyone else could call out again, the blonde felt something tap him on the head from behind, and upon turning to face the perpetrator, Roxas found that the candelabra now had a face, and was now moving its two arms like actual arms. What was even more surprising was when he actually spoke! "Hello," he greeted, and upon hearing the living light fixture speak, Roxas reacted in the way that most anyone would expect; he freaked out and dropped the thing like it had burned him. "Oof! That's the second time that's happened now," the candelabra groused as he relit the flames on his candles.

"The…the candle's…talking," Xion gaped in disbelief.

"Uh actually it's…he's a candelabra," Ventus corrected, correcting himself halfway through his sentence when he did

"What's the difference," Sora asked.

"I'll tell ya later," Ventus reassured him. "Right after we get acquainted with his friends."

Turning to where Ven had waved the others all saw that the clock, teapot, and teacup had all hopped down from where they had been sitting and moved over to where they were gathered. "Um…Hello," Sora greeted with his usual smile as he knelt down to better speak with them. "I'm Sora. And this is Xion, Roxas, Ventus, Donald, and Goofy."

The next thing anyone knew, Donald and lunged forward and scooped up the clock of the bunch so that he could fiddle with it, much to the clock's protests. "D-don't touch! I-I am self-winding, sir!"

Donald seemed too fascinated by what he was seeing to take notice, and Goofy was no better, given that he was just standing there and watching as Donald shook the clock around. Thankfully, Xion came to his rescue and placed a hand on the wizard's shoulder as she said, "Donald, maybe you should put the poor guy down before you hurt him."

The minute that the clock was on the floor again, he breathed a sigh of relief, and said, "Oh, thank you, madam."

"Your welcome," Xion nodded. "We're just glad you're all okay."

"It is we who are overjoyed to see you, mademoiselle! And of course, all of you as well, monsieurs," the candelabra cheered as he hoped up on one of the chairs.

"Uh…what did he just call us," Roxas questioned.

"Monsieur. It means sir or mister," Ventus whispered in translation.

"Oh, but where are our manners? I am Monsieur Lumière," the candelabra revealed.

"I am Cogsworth, the master's most loyal and trusted servant," the clock nodded.

"My name is Mrs. Potts, and this is my boy, Chip. It's pleasure to meet you all, dears," the teapot nodded to the group, indicating the teacup when she mentioned her son.

"Nice to meet you all, too," Goofy waved hello. "So did somebody put a spell on you guys, too?"

"Yes, that's right. You've heard," Cogsworth confirmed. "It was the enchantress."

"It seems so long ago," Lumière somberly recalled.

"What exactly happened that made this enchantress put a spell on all of you," Ventus finally asked.

"Well, long ago on a cold winter's night, an old beggar woman came to the castle, and asked for shelter," Mrs. Potts began.

"But the master of this castle, that is of course, the prince turned her away, all because of her, ahem, meager appearance," Cogsworth continued.

"That's awful," Roxas stated, angry that the prince would do such a thing.

Apparently, the servants agreed, as the team soon learned when Lumière said, "Oui, he was a spoiled prince, so selfish and…how shall I say…cruel."

"Lumière," Cogsworth snapped in scolding, showing that he was not at all fond of anyone speaking poorly of his master, even if it may have been true.

"The old woman warned our master not to be deceived by appearances," Mrs. Potts continued, almost appearing to ignore the other two's brief quarreling. "Still, he would not take her in. Then the old woman's ugliness melted away to reveal a beautiful enchantress. She turned the prince into a beast, a shape she thought fitting for his cold heart, and to further punish him, everyone in the castle was enchanted, too."

"Wow…that's quite a story," Sora breathed in awe. He was upset by what the enchantress had done, but that did not mean that the story was any less impressive.

"Is there anything we can do to help," Xion questioned.

"Let's get the enchantress," Donald suggested.

"Not happening," Ventus determined for the group. He then dropped his voice into a lower whisper, mainly because he was not entirely sure what the Beast and Belle had told their friends about what had happened a year ago. "Even if we knew where to look for her, we shouldn't get involved. This would be one of those things that we can't get involved with because it isn't our place to interfere."

"So it's one of those world order things," Roxas reasoned.

"Exactly," Ventus confirmed.

"It's very kind of you to want to help, dears, but there's no need," Mrs. Potts reassured them, much to everyone's surprise.

"We already know what needs to be done, but with the master out of sorts…" Lumière explained.

"He sure is acting weird," Sora nodded along in agreement, with Donald, Goofy, and Ven doing the same a moment later. Xion did not really give any sort of indication one way or the other, but she still noted that these people all seemed to think that there was good inside of the Beast, and from the contemplative look on his face, she figured that Roxas had noticed, too.

"It's almost as if he's forgotten how to trust others," Mrs. Potts noted aloud.

"You don't suppose he's been turned into a Heartless, do you," Cogsworth asked, startling the team of adventurers.

"If the Heartless are involved in this, then it's definitely a good thing that we're here right now," Ventus informed the servants.

"Yeah, the Beast helped us fight the Heartless before, so now it's time we returned the favor," Sora determined.

Xion and Roxas exchanged a look between themselves before the former commented, "Well, if any of the feelings and strange fragments of our old memories are any indication, we've helped deal with Heartless problems that this castle has had in the past, so I'm sure we can help do it again."

"Yeah," Roxas agreed. He may not have a high opinion of the Beast, but he was not going to let the Heartless have free reign of this place, either.

"Let's go find the Beast," Donald decided, thinking that would be the best place to start, and everyone seemed to agree.

"Splendid," Cogsworth cheered.

"Follow me, monsieurs and mademoiselle. I know a shortcut," Lumière revealed, hopping down from his chair so that he could lead the way to said shortcut.

* * *

Getting through Lumière's shortcut turned out to be fairly easy, even with the rather trying task of having light several lanterns that were enshrouded by dark flames, but then again, no one ever said that secret passages were not complicated in one way or another. Shortly after doing so, they all split up once again, with Lumière, Mrs. Potts, and Chip going to check on the rest of the castle, while Cogsworth led the team to the Beast's room. Thankfully, it was practically a hop, skip, and a jump away to the Beast's room, and with only a few Heartless popping up in between. They only seemed to run into a problem when they finally came to a stop at the door to Beast's room.

As they had started approaching the Beast's room, they could all pick up on the sound of voices, and they did not need Cogsworth to tell them that no one else was supposed to be in the Beast's room right now to know that whoever it was, it was likely the culprit behind all of this. What did come as surprising were the brief looks of recognition that flashed over the faces of Roxas and Xion, and they could only think of one reason why they would have such looks. Now was not really the time to be worrying about that type of thing, though, as some of them were more focused on the conversation that the Beast was having with his visitor from the Organization, but Xion and Roxas still figured that they needed to speak up.

"I know that voice," Roxas whispered as he stood against the door, ready to jump into the room at a moment's notice with the others.

"Yeah…I don't really remember the face or the name, but…" Xion started to say, until something suddenly clicked in her mind. "Wait a minute…Number…III?"

"Huh? Number III," Goofy questioned, not understanding why Xion would say that.

"That's his identification and rank in the Organization," Roxas replied in her place. When he saw that everyone still looked confused, he quickly stated, "We'll explain later."

"Agreed. We may need to hear what they're saying," Ventus hushed, and like that, the whole group went silent so they could better listen in.

"It's time you dealt with Belle," they could hear Number III saying. "She's scheming to take everything you have. This castle, your precious rose, and then your life. Trust no one. Feed your anger. Only anger will keep you strong."

"I've had enough of strength," Beast growled, and they were all a little surprised at how tired he sounded. "There's only one thing I want."

"What? To love, and be loved in return? Who could ever love a beast," Number III scoffed.

"I think you'd be surprised," Sora shouted after bursting into the room, apparently not noticing how Beast had roared angrily at Number III's words. The others could only follow behind Sora, some a little more hesitantly than others, but all the same, they were all more than happy to draw weapons on the intruder from Organization XIII.

"See? She has accomplices," Number III told Beast, showing his ability to improvise a situation on the spot was very good when he did. He then backed away, and with a wave of his hand, he summoned a battlefield barrier between the Beast and the rose that was resting on the table behind them, and another one that blocked the team off from the door that they just came through.

They were all sure that they would be battling it out with a member of the Organization at last, but before any of them could attack, Number III just disappeared into a Dark Corridor, leaving them with only the Beast. It did not make any sense as to why he would trap them in the room and then leave, but what made even less sense was that the barrier was still there even after he was gone. Then again, there was one other person that the adventurers were likely being forced to fight, but it did not seem that Sora had realized this as he approached that person as casually as he would any other friend.

"Hey, Prince," Sora greeted as he got close to the Beast. He quickly came to regret doing so when the Beast let out a vicious roar, and he knew that it was not to express friendly intent.

"Oh, dear! Master," Cogsworth gasped. Another cry of fright soon escaped him when Xion scooped him up as she jumped out of the way of the Beast's vicious lunge along with the others. "Oh, thank you, mademoiselle."

"Don't thank me just yet," Xion cautioned after setting Cogsworth aside in a place that she was sure he was likely to be safe for a bit, and she then turned to summon Two Become One into her hand. "We've still got to deal with this problem."

"We can't fight the Beast," Goofy protested.

"He's not really giving us much choice," Ventus pointed out.

"Maybe not," Roxas argued, much to everyone's surprise. He then stepped forward with Oathkeeper held before him in both hands, and explained, "Number III obviously did something to mess with his head, but I don't think it's something that sticks for very long."

"How do you figure that," Donald questioned.

"I may not remember everything, but I do remember that Number III liked coming back to this world, even when he had time off. One time, I was even sent to bring him back because he had not returned to the Organization's base in a while. When I asked him why, all he said was that he was making sure that certain events were set in motion, and that he needed to make sure nothing would derail his efforts," Roxas elaborated.

"You think that he kept coming back because he was worried that his influence on the Beast might've worn off if he didn't keep coming back to reinforce it," Xion reasoned, having just had similar memories come back to her ever since she realized who was in the room with the Beast.

"So then, we just need to snap him out of it," Sora reasoned as he summoned Kingdom Key into his hand.

"That and we need to keep him from killing us until he does come to his senses," Roxas pointed out.

"Either way, it almost sounds like you're starting to believe what we've been saying about Beast," Sora told him.

"Let's not get too crazy just yet," Roxas smirked in return, letting Sora know that he was not entirely convinced, but he was at least considering that the others may have been right now.

All banter was dropped when the Beast swiped at them again, and the two Keybearers immediately rolled out of the way to avoid getting torn apart like those drapes that were hanging over the nearly destroyed bed. Upon getting to their feet again, Sora and Roxas both charged, with the former firing off a blast of Blizzara to distract Beast and give the latter an opening to attack. When Roxas did so, he made it a point to hit Beast with the blunt side of his Keyblade, even though he was pretty sure that it would not have made much difference either way, and it seemed to leave the big guy a little disoriented. Just not to the point where he was unable to return the favor by batting Roxas aside. Beast then pounced at the younger blonde, and likely would have started tearing into Roxas had Xion not activated her Valor Form and jumped in the way to block Beast's attack with Two Become One and Midnight Roar.

Xion was forced to remain on the defensive for a little while longer, but thankfully, her use of her Drive Form made it a little easier for her to deflect or block Beast's mad swipes, and it also offered Ventus a chance to bounce of the wall with Flowmotion and land an attack from above. Ven's attack struck true, and allowed Goofy to bash his shield into the Beast's head a few times while Donald and Sora worked together to try and freeze Beast where he stood with some more ice spells. After Ventus had jumped back and joined the two in their icy attacks, Beast had quickly ended up stuck in the hold of some very strong ice, and Cogsworth took that moment as his chance to jump in, and rang whatever alarm he had inside of him as loud as he could while shouting at his prince as loudly as possible.

"Please, Master! Please! Control yourself," Cogsworth pleaded, and the sound waves that were released by Cogsworth's cries, mixed with his incredibly loud clock chimes seemed to be what finally did the trick in dispelling the aura that had surrounded the Beast ever since he had fallen under the Number III's manipulations.

While Beast had stopped raging and roaring like a wild animal, the team was still a little wary of releasing him from the ice that they had trapped him in, hence the reason why Ventus and Donald did so very carefully and slowly. By the time that the ice had melted though, it was clear that Beast was not likely to attack them again. If anything, he seemed more likely to curl up in a ball and brood in misery for a while, even though he was still rather disoriented. That did not stop him from taking note of who all was now in the room with him, and the first person he noticed was someone that had served him more faithfully than anyone else in the castle had for many years.

"Cogsworth," Beast roughly rasped. "What happened?"

"Well, Master…ah, you see…that is…How shall I say…ah, actually…mmm…" Cogsworth stuttered. Clearly leaving the clock was not the best person to explain the situation to his prince.

"Well, you put everybody down there in that dungeon," Donald finally stated once he decided that he could not just stand there watching Cogsworth stall for much longer.

"I did what," Beast gasped in disbelief. Not only that, but his gaze swept over both the magician and the rest of Donald's group in surprise, indicating that he only just now realized who they were, and for a brief second, the team could have sworn they saw him smile a little bit before it vanished a second later.

"Ah…you did," Cogsworth admitted.

"I'm guessing you don't really remember much of what happened recently, do you," Ventus questioned.

"No…I can't really remember much of anything aside from that man in the black coat," Beast confessed. His gaze then paused on Roxas and Xion for a moment, and the two quickly became a little unsettled when he started sniffing at them before finally saying, "You two…You actually share a similar scent to his."

"Yeah, that's a long story," Xion replied. It was not like she could really give any other answer right now.

"Don't worry. Roxas and Xion may have been part of that guy's group, but they're part of our team now," Sora reassured his old friend.

"Speaking of the guy in black, I don't suppose you ever got his name, did you? The only thing we can remember about him is his rank in the group he's part of," Roxas hesitantly asked. He may have been the one to come up with the plan to snap Beast out of his anger-induced haze, but it was still disorienting for him to see that the Beast acting so dazed, confused, and from the looks of things, ashamed.

The Beast's shame seemed to grow a little more as his memory continued coming back to him, and it showed in the way he spoke when he answered the blonde boy's question. "Xaldin! …That's his name," Beast gasped with a low growl. "He came from the darkness. He…used my anger to control me. He took all my sorrow, my sadness, my pain, and turned it into rage. There was nothing I could do…I could no longer see the truth."

"Well, I'll be," Goofy cheered, much to everyone's surprise. "That must be why you threw all of your friends down there into the dungeon. You wanted to make sure that you didn't hurt 'em, right?"

While everyone was very much aware of Goofy's highly optimistic attitude, many of them could not help but think that he may have been onto something, though some members of the team's party were still a little more focused on something else. Not that anyone really seemed to notice, as they were all distracted by the Beast's own musings. "Was that it," Beast wondered. "Was it to protect them?"

"Sure, we all know you're a good person on the inside," Ventus insisted, agreeing with Goofy's earlier assessment, and Sora and Donald both nodded along with him a second later.

"They're right, Master," Cogsworth agreed. "We've all seen how kind you can be."

"Not quite all of us," Xion corrected, drawing everyone's attention to the twins, but mostly to the blonde one of the two, since they she was mainly referring to him.

Roxas did not need any prompting to know that his sister was talking about him, but they were all left a little surprised to see that he was giving the Beast an apologetic look when he finally spoke up. "When I first saw you downstairs in the parlor, I didn't really think you were anything but a monster. Even though other people all insisted that you were a good person inside, I refused to listen and just judged you based off of the one encounter I had with you. I'm not entirely sure why I wasn't listening, even when Belle told me about what you've done for her, but that's still no excuse. Bottom line is…I was the one who was really acting like a beast, not you."

"Hey, don't beat yourself up over this, Roxas," Ventus told his younger look-a-like. "I'm pretty sure your recent attitude was just the result of you using Oblivion too much whenever you were only using one Keyblade. Surely you've noticed that you're a lot less snappish now that you're using Oathkeeper instead, haven't you?"

Now that Ventus had mentioned it, Roxas had noticed that fact, and he figured that this definitely served as proof that he needed to be careful whenever he was not using both of his Keyblades at the same time. It was certainly not the way he had wanted to prove his theory about how the two Keyblades influenced him, but it was still good to know now. Though that did not make Roxas feel any better about this whole thing. "I still should've at least tried to listen instead of starting a fight with my friends," Roxas insisted.

"Hey, you weren't exactly the only one at fault there. I probably should've done a better job at keeping my cool, too," Sora argued, only this time, it was in a much calmer manner than he had been before. "So, are we cool?"

Roxas looked at Sora for a moment before he finally smiled and said, "Yeah. Frosty."

Everyone else was smiling as well when the two boys shook hands to show they had made up, even Beast, until he something Roxas said triggered another memory for him. "Belle! I've mistreated her," Beast gasped in greater despair. "I've mistreated her and been so selfish."

"I don't remember her saying anything about that," Xion recalled. "Do you guys?"

"Nope, not me," Sora replied, with the others giving similar responses right after.

"She'd never tell anyone of my cruelty. She's too good," Beast argued, and unfortunately, none of them were really able to argue his point on that. Even if that was not entirely accurate, Beast did have a point in saying that Belle would not likely tell others if someone she cared about was upsetting her in anyway.

"You see, I'm afraid he judges himself far too harshly," Cogsworth whispered to them.

"You know, if you're really that worried about how Belle feels regarding your recent behavior, then maybe you should just go and talk to her," Roxas suggested. "I mean, if my friends can forgive me for the way I was acting then surely Belle would do the same for you."

"But…" Beast started to protest, but the Keybearers were not going to hear any of it.

"Oh no you don't! If you really are sorry for how you've been acting, then you're more than able to man up and apologize to the pretty lady who was so worried about you, and that you clearly care so much about," Xion ordered, startling Beast a little bit.

"I'd listen to her if I were you. Trust me, my sister's not someone you want to make angry," Roxas advised.

"Don't worry. We'll go with you, if you want," Sora then offered.

That seemed to do the trick, and just like that, the group found themselves leading Beast over to Belle's room. At least they did after Xion stopped to study the rose from before again, and she could not help but ask, "So…what's the deal with this rose, anyway?"

"Nothing you need to worry about. And don't touch it," Beast warned in a low growl that left no room for argument.

Xion immediately raised her hands in good faith, and decided that she would ask Cogsworth and the others about it later. Right now, they had a relationship to mend.

* * *

Barely halfway to Belle's room, things suddenly took a worrying turn for our heroes. Namely, when they all heard screaming coming from the ballroom. That alone was sure proof that someone was in trouble, but the fact that they all recognized the voice as Belle's made things even more worrying. That did not stop Beast from grumbling a complaint or two under his breath about Belle never doing as he tells her, but he was still bounding ahead of everyone else as they raced to the ballroom in order to try and help the endangered Princess of Heart.

When they came into the ballroom, it was not hard to spot Belle. Not only did her attire make her stick out in the rather extravagant ballroom, and the fact that she was the only person in the ballroom that they could see played a big part in things too, but what really got their attention was the large, spherical Heartless with twisted tentacles and chains around its body that was flying after her. Looking at the Heartless, most of the team first thought that it was a Darkball, but Jiminy was quick to correct that mistake, and told them a much different story. "Careful. That's a Shadow Stalker," the cricket chronicler reported as he read off from his journal. "It can take over various things like the Possessor, only it's a lot harder to force out, and can take over stuff that's much larger. And that's not even the worst of it."

"Dare I ask what is," Ventus offered in query.

"If it feels seriously threatened, or like it's about to be destroyed, it'll release the chains surrounding its body and transform into a much more massive monster known as the Dark Thorn," Jiminy revealed, and he quickly spun his journal around to show everyone a picture of the Heartless in question. They definitely saw more than a few similarities between the Dark Thorn and the Shadow Stalker, but between the two, they had to say that Dark Thorn was much more terrifying in appearance alone. It possessed black skin, and had teal, rose-like thorns wrapping around its body, while both of its wrists and ankles had manacles on them, and while it did have a muscular body and large hands and feet, the limbs were rather thin, but what was especially noticeable were the large orange horns on its head and the massive, orange mane that it possessed.

"Yeah, I vote we defeat this thing before it can turn into that," Xion suggested, and no one disagreed.

It was at that very moment that Ventus noticed Belle had managed to slip out onto the balcony and shut the door behind her, and he took that moment to add a little extra protection by casting the necessary spell to form a battlefield barrier, trapping the Shadow Stalker in the ballroom with them. The Heartless let out a vicious, ear-shattering howl upon seeing it was trapped, and the group immediately readied themselves for battle, knowing that it was going to attack at any time. At that point, Sora could not help but wonder aloud, "What do you think Jiminy meant when he said that this thing could take over something larger than the Possessor can?"

He soon got his answer when the Shadow Stalker dived into the floor, and before anyone knew what was happening, the entire ballroom was transformed from its beautiful, extravagant appearance, and into a much more sinister, twisted version of the room, from the floor, to the columns on either side of the room, and even all the way up to the chandelier. Seeing the change that the Heartless had inflicted on the room, Roxas could only glance to Sora and say, "You had to ask."

A minute later, the Shadow Stalker reappeared before fading into the windows on the far side of the room. Ventus did not need to shout for everyone to move clear; the way that the windows flashed before several energy beams were released from them was clue enough. Thankfully, the Shadow Stalker did not stay in the windows for long, but instead, floated out and up towards the chandelier, which it soon dropped down onto the floor so that it could try swinging it into one of them. Sora did not remain idle long enough for the Heartless to use the ceiling fixture on them, and he immediately rushed forward with his Keyblade at the ready. The minute he got close enough, he used Kingdom Key to force the Shadow Stalker out of the fixture, leaving it seriously disoriented. Ventus and Roxas both rushed in and started hacking away at it with every powerful swing that they could throw out. Donald and Xion were more than happy to blast it with a few spells, leaving Beast, Goofy, and Sora to rush in and help the blonde duo with bashing it over its spherical head.

The Shadow Stalker was eventually able to shake off the team and attempted to take over part of the ballroom again, this time fading into the columns that had been changed into a form similar to sharp tentacles. The Shadow Stalker was quick to use the columns as such, and everyone was forced back as the various support structures tried scratching them apart. Thankfully, they were able to avoid getting hit, and Xion was soon forcing the Shadow Stalker out once again after she had hit several of the columns several times over with her Keyblade. When the Heartless came forward again, Ventus immediately rushed in with Sora at his side, both intent on ending this creature then and there, but just when they were getting in reach of it, the spherical monster suddenly enwrapped itself into a large cocoon of shadows.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Ventus muttered as everyone paused to watch the cocoon, fearing that it would be unwise to attack it. They all ended up scolding themselves for thinking like that afterwards, because as soon as the cocoon exploded open, the Dark Thorn had come crashing down. "And that would be why," Ventus continued aloud, only to end up being slammed into a wall seconds later by the Dark Thorn's vicious claws.

When the blonde master hit the floor again, it was clear that he was unconscious, and that seemed to drive Beast into a very serious rage, because he immediately started tearing into the Dark Thorn with everything he could afterwards. Sora was right behind the big guy, casting spells and whatever special attacks he could use, and as a result, by the time he had reached the Dark Thorn, he was already powered up in his Destiny Blaze Command Style. He was not the only one to use a Command Style though, as Xion was soon following to hit it with Thunderbolt, leaving only Roxas, Goofy, and Donald as the ones to attack it the old fashioned way. Despite all of their best efforts, the Dark Thorn was still able to go pretty strongly, and was moving a little too fast for them to be able to properly keep up.

Looking to rectify their problems, Roxas immediately broke off his assault and ran towards the nearest wall. He then leapt up towards and off of said wall as hard as he could, putting him well within reach of the chandelier, and he did not hesitate to grab onto it. "Look out below," Roxas called out, which served as all the warning the others had to get clear before the chandelier dropped down onto the Dark Thorn, with Roxas riding it the whole way down. The dual Keyblade wielder was not done yet though, as he immediately spun himself around the chain holding the chandelier to the ceiling, sending the fixture spinning around the room with the Dark Thorn getting thrown about as it did. Getting off before he made himself dizzy, Roxas immediately whipped out both of his Keyblades and charged while shouting, "Now! Hit it while it's dazed!"

"You've got it, Roxas," Goofy cheered as he and the others came up behind him. They all hit the Dark Thorn with everything they could, and between Beast's amazing strength and claws, Donald's staff and magic, Goofy's shield, and the other three's Keyblades and powers, the Dark Thorn was clearly being forced into a corner. Sadly, like any animal, Heartless only become more dangerous when they're cornered, and the Dark Thorn soon proved that after it suddenly turned invisible.

A minute later, everyone was being bashed or thrown across the room, with barely any time to react. By the time that the Dark Thorn had become visible again, Donald was barely supporting Goofy, while Xion was taking cover behind one of the columns as she tried to use healing magic on both herself and whatever others were within her reach. Sora was just about to cast a spell or two so that he could activate Rhythm Mixer, but the Dark Thorn must have realized what he was planning, because it immediately began focusing all of its attention on Sora. The wielder of Kingdom Key was then forced to use whatever extra power Destiny Blaze provided him to stay ahead of the vicious Heartless, and while this did serve to keep it from attacking the others, it also left Sora with little to no openings with which he could fight back.

Seeing this, Roxas was soon growling in frustration, hating that his friends were getting torn apart like this, but he soon calmed down when Beast came over and placed one of his massive paws on his shoulder. "Easy, Roxas," the cursed prince advised. "Sora's giving us a chance, and that Heartless is about to learn what happens when you cross not one, but two beasts."

Roxas immediately smirked when he heard that, and without either of them realizing it, an aura of rose-red light began to surround them both, along with Roxas's Keyblades, and that same aura flared brilliantly when they both let out mighty roars that not only echoed throughout the castle, but also came with a powerful sonic shockwave that actually knocked the Dark Thorn off of its feet and away from Sora. The Keyblade warrior was sincerely thankful for that, mainly because his Command Style's power just died out, but he was also a little stunned by what he was seeing happen to his two friends. "Whoa! That's almost just like what happened with Mulan and Xion when we fought Shan-Yu," Sora whispered.

Ventus had actually started coming around at that point, and he was soon met with the same thing that Sora was seeing, much to his astonishment. "First Xion with Mulan, and now Roxas with Beast? How is it possible for them to be using such advanced powers before they've even learned the basic ones?"

There was not any time to really think on the matter, because Beast and Roxas were already charging in to attack once again, still shining with the aura of the Command Link. Beast was the first to strike, using a great deal of his impressive strength to pounce and tear into the Dark Thorn, with Roxas following up soon after by lunging at the Heartless and slash it several times over using both of his Keyblades. They continued their combination for several minutes, until they finally came to stand back-to-back in front of the Dark Thorn, and after sharing a look between each other, the two let loose a powerful, roaring howl that was enhanced by powerful magic to create several shockwaves, and inflicting quite a severe amount of injury to the Dark Thorn. When their final howl of power came to an end, the Dark Thorn staggered a little, and let out one final, defiant roar before it finally broke apart into dust, releasing a crystal heart into the air as the last traces vanished, and the ballroom returned to its normal state.

"Way to go you guys! You did it," Sora cheered as he rushed over with everyone else, Ventus lingering a little closer to the back as he thought over what had just happened at the end of the fight.

"Yeah, you were great," Xion praised with a smile.

"Hey, what do you expect from a couple of beasts," Roxas questioned with a joking tone, earning a smile from Beast when he did.

"Either way, it looks like everything's okay now," Donald declared.

"So you think," the familiar voice interrupted, making everyone turn their attention back towards the door into the ballroom, and they all quickly caught sight of the Organization member from before.

"Xaldin," Beast growled, preparing to charge the Nobody the minute he saw him.

"So, the Whirlwind Lancer himself makes an appearance," Roxas growled.

"Not too surprising, given that he's so in love with this world," Xion stated as she glared at Number III just as fiercely.

"Please, child. You know better than that. As Nobodies, we don't have hearts to feel. Though I must still ask that you not insult me. I have told you that love is a foolish delusion; nothing more than the stuff of poetry, not practicality," Xaldin chided. That seemed to egg the Beast into trying to attack him, but Xaldin did not even flinch. Instead, he simply opened another Dark Corridor, and bade, "Farewell."

Just as quickly as he came, Xaldin left, and while he was glad that the intruder was gone, Beast was still left with a serious, unanswered question or two. "What does he want here?"

"He's with a group called Organization XIII. The same group that Roxas and I used to be part of and it's entirely made up of very dangerous beings," Xion explained.

"Ever heard of the Nobodies," Sora asked. When he got a negative growl in response, he went on to explain what he had learned from the others. "When a strong-hearted person turns into a Heartless, a Nobody's created, too, and especially powerful Nobodies can retain their human shape and memories, at least in most cases."

"And then you've got odd cases like me and Xion," Roxas added. "We were Nobodies once, but we don't look like the people we had been before they fell to darkness, and we didn't retain any memories of being human. It's only thanks to Ven, and to some extent, Sora that we were able to learn the truth about the Organization and leave, but at the price of all our memories from our time with the Organization."

"You seem to remember a fair deal about Xaldin, though," Beast noted.

"Not everything, but the memories are slowly coming back to us," Roxas clarified.

"More importantly, the members of the Organization have control over all other types of Nobodies," Ventus added.

"That's right. They musta been tryin' to turn the Beast into a Heartless. That way, they could get that Nobody of his and have control over it," Goofy realized.

"I guess that's what Xaldin was trying to set into motion all those times he was here. Then again, despite what he says, I know for a fact that Xaldin has a serious dislike of anything resembling love, at best," Roxas recalled. He then paused before amending, "Or at least, I can remember that about him now."

"You're all right," Belle cheered, and the group all turned to see that she had finally come back in from the balcony.

Beast was definitely pleased to see Belle was safe, and he immediately bounded over to her, only to hesitate a little when he finally reached her. He was obviously still a bit worried about what Belle would say or how she would react, and from the expression on her face, she was already pretty upset with him. When he tried to shy away though, he caught a glimpse of Roxas's face, and saw that the boy was still looking at him with a calm expression as he nodded in encouragement. If that boy was brave enough to give him a chance despite his misgivings, then the Beast could not run away now. Although, this was much harder if you asked him.

"Belle…I-I'm sorry," Beast stuttered, doing his best to meet her gaze so that she would see how honest he was being. "I…wasn't myself. I hope I haven't done anything to hurt you. Forgive me."

Belle just looked at him for a moment before she finally grinned at him happily, bringing a smile to Beast's face when she did, and said, "I know you weren't yourself. You don't have to apologize." She then frowned a little as her tone turned scolding. "But I had hoped…that you might have changed a little bit. I wish you could start trusting me."

Beast had the decency to hang his head in remorse upon hearing that, though it was mostly because he knew she was right about that. Seeing that these two were obviously still going to be arguing a little made the team feel a little sad for them, but others were sad for different reasons. "Oh, I am afraid time is running short," Lumière groaned, letting the Keybearers and their friends know that he and the other servants had just arrived.

"What do you mean," Sora asked.

"Remember the rose?"

"It's kinda hard to forget something like that," Xion pointed out.

"You see, if the master can learn to love, and earn love in return, before the last petal falls," Cogsworth explained.

"The spell will be broken," Lumière finished.

"Really? You think he's gonna make it," Sora asked in a rare moment of skepticism.

"We think so," Mrs. Potts nodded.

"Yep, I think you're right," Goofy agreed.

"I HOPE you're right," Sora worried.

"Hey, I thought you were supposed to be a little more optimistic than that, Sora," Roxas teased. "They'll make it. Just you watch."

Not even a second after Roxas had spoken, Oathkeeper had jumped into his hand, with everyone else's Keyblades doing the same soon after. Sharing a look with each other, the group all nodded to show they were thinking the same thing, and Roxas immediately stepped forward, holding his light Keyblade out before him in both hands. The group then watched as the tip of Roxas's Keyblade glowed brightly, while the image of the x-shaped emblem he wore materialized around him, glowing brilliantly as a familiar energy surged out from the image's outline. Much like many times before, once the surge passed, Roxas found himself in the strange sky, and he quickly spotted the Beast's rose up in the air before said flower shot out a beam that dispersed into a Keyhole high above it. Without even thinking, Roxas leapt back a short distance, spun his Keyblade around, and then aimed his Keyblade at the Keyhole that had appeared, allowing a beam of light to be fired off from its tip the minute he had lined it up with the Keyhole. When the beam connected with the Keyhole, a faint ringing sound reached his ears, over the sound of something being unlocked, just as his surroundings returned to normal.

"What happened," Beast questioned as he and Belle came over.

"The gate is open," Donald declared, making it clear for their friends in this castle as to what that meant for the team now.

"Do you have to go," Belle asked, sad to see that her friends were leaving so soon.

"Afraid so. We're still needed out there, but we'll try and come back and visit," Ventus promised.

"Yeah, count on it," Sora guaranteed.

"Now, no more arguin', okay," Goofy teased, making both Belle and Beast turn bashful, though more so in the case of the Beast than Belle.

Just before anyone could give the team some well-wishes of farewell, a low growl suddenly echoed throughout the ballroom. Naturally, everyone looked towards the Beast, but he immediately shook his head to silently say that it was not him. That was when Roxas turned to Xion and noticed that she was trying to bury her face in her scarf, and he could not help but smirk as it all came together. "Sis, was that your stomach?"

Xion gave up her attempts to hide her embarrassment, allowing everyone to see her blushing face as she quickly explained, "Hey, I didn't get to eat all that much before training today, and fighting works up an appetite."

"Oh now, goodness me! We can't have you all leaving on empty stomachs," Mrs. Potts declared.

"No we can't," Beast agreed, apparently having realized what his servants were already planning. "Please, join us for dinner before you leave."

"That's really not necessary," Ventus tried to insist.

"We wouldn't want to impose," Sora added.

"Oh no, of course not, Monsieurs. You are our guests, and we always treat our guests with the utmost care," Lumière reassured them.

Before anyone knew it, the Keybearers, Goofy, and Donald were all being shown into the dining room, and at that point, they had all pretty resigned themselves to the fact that this was going to happen. Beast and his servants did have a point in saying that they should not leave on an empty stomach, and saving the worlds was hungry work.

* * *

 ** _AN: Okay, yeah. This chapter is really long, and it covers everything that happened at Beast's Castle. I know that probably makes it a little too long for some people's liking, but I felt that after being away from this story for so long, and after going so long without updating any of my stories, you guys deserved something this big, so...here we are._**

 ** _Now, obviously, I didn't include everything that happened at the castle, but I did make it a point to get all the most important stuff in there. I mean, did you really think I was going to detail the mini-game of lowering the lanterns and all that stuff for the shortcut? There really wasn't that much I could to make it more interesting without making this chapter infinitely too long. Not only that, but we also got a fair bit of development for the characters, including whether or not Roxas's Keyblades would have some side-effect on him if he used one more over the other when only using one Keyblade. I think the reason for why we saw more of Oblivion is self-explanatory, as the fact that it has more strength than Oathkeeper is in fact something that's drawn from the games._**

 ** _Another thing I want to address is the matter of Sora learning about water magic. Yes, that is a thing in KH3, and part of me kinda had to wonder why we never saw a water spell until that game (at least as far as I know). This was basically my way of having Ven explain it away to Sora and the others, and I also wanted to bring in some of the KH3 spells a littler earlier if possible. Water, Waterra, and Waterga being the easiest was only natural, and it also has the added benefit of giving us a funny moment._**

 ** _One final thing I want to mention was that I planned to have a little performance of "Be Our Guest" at the end of the chapter here, but by this point, the chapter had gotten so long, that I just felt like it would be better to end it where I did. Maybe I'll go back and add it in later on, if you guys want me too, but for now, I think that's going to be something we'll be seeing in the Keyblades Unleashed Series Extras._**

 ** _Ventus: I feel like we should've gotten another journal/diary entry this chapter._**

 ** _AN: Maybe, but I couldn't really think of anything to say in such a thing this time, and really, did we need to make this any longer than it already is? Well, next chapter's probably going to be a little bit shorter, but certainly a bit more exciting._**

 ** _Kairi: [waving a hand in front of Aqua's face in an attempt to break her out of her earlier induced daydream] And why's that?_**

 ** _AN: The best hint your getting comes from moving Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _As the team's journey continues onwards, another journey is just about to begin. Kairi is confronted by Axel, and as a result, she and her protector are soon flung across the worlds, all the way to Twilight Town. Though unexpected, it is not unwelcome, as it does allow the girls to step in and lend a hand against a recent problem that the town finds itself in the midst of. Can the girls handle themselves against these strange opponents? Meanwhile, Ven's group is on its way to another new world, and this one is promising to be like none any of them had ever experienced before, while also bringing them to another reunion. Many paths are beginning to open up, next time._**

 ** _Yeah, I told you we would be seeing the girls again a little sooner than we did in the canon story line. And as for what the next world will be...well, I'd wager that's gonna be quite the surprise that you will all enjoy very much when we get there. Until then..._**

 ** _Please read and review, and see ya real soon!_**


	13. New Challenges For All

**_AN: If you need proof of how eager I was to get this chapter out, then you need look no further than the fact that it's already been posted so soon after the last chapter was. Pretty sweet, huh? What I can't believe though is how so many reviews blew up onto this story just from the fact that RWBY showed up in the last chapter's author's note._**

 ** _Sora: I'm pretty sure the fact you mentioned you were thinking about doing something that involved RWBY either in this or your other Kingdom Hearts series, and that you were brainstorming on some ideas for a RWBY fanfiction had something to do with that too._**

 ** _AN: You say potato...Anyhow, wait no more everyone, because the fun's about to continue with this chapter. But first, we've got some reviews to answer without spoiling anything too big for later in the series._**

 ** _Riku: You mean like how in the next chapter, you plan to have the team meet..._**

 ** _AN: DAH! SPOILER! [hits control]_**

 ** _Riku: [suddenly has a trap door open up under him] Aw not this again! [drops down trap door with a scream]_**

 ** _Xion: Really? We're back to doing that shtick again?_**

 ** _AN: Wait for it. [loud explosion is heard before Riku is sent flying back up out of the trap door and into the ceiling, where he sticks for a few minutes until he drops down to the floor again] Ooh! I felt that. And it looks like Riku's really rocking quite the fashion statement now._**

 ** _Ventus: I'll say. Slightly cooked lizard skin seems to be in season._**

 ** _Riku: Urgh...What do you mean by that? [looks in a mirror to see that he's covered in ash, and now has lizard skin] AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!_**

 ** _AN: Do you think I should bother reminding him again that lizard's shed their skin?_**

 ** _Kairi: Nah, he'll figure it out. Besides, you need to hurry up and answer reviews so we can get to the story! I want everyone to see me and Aqua dominating the action already!_**

 ** _AN: Wow! Someone clearly got an extra dosage of happy mixed in with their breakfast this morning. Anyways, let's begin with those review answers, shall we?_**

 ** _Xion: I'll start off, if no one minds. Namely to answer that "Guest" from 5/27/2019 who asked about my eating habits. One, don't you know its rude to ask a girl something like that? And two, it's not that much more than the average person. We were just there for a really long time, and again, I had skipped a meal a little while earlier, so after all that we had been through, you'd be hungry too!_**

 ** _AN: Okay, good to know. Moving on before the cutest girl in the Organization decides to murder anybody..._**

 ** _Roxas: Like it's really hard to win that competition. Unless you count Namine as an unofficial member, the only other girl in the Organization, both old and new, is Larxene._**

 ** _AN: Not the point or what we're talking about right now. Let's move it along to "CG"'s questions. First off, Cloud's sword will most likely be like it was in KH2 for the most part, but it may actually end up being unraveled from those bandages later on. Also, I did take notice of your story ideas, and while they are interesting, I'm afraid that I don't really have much time to really consider pursuing any of them at the moment. Even if I did, I still probably wouldn't. I'd kinda like to at least get this series or Kingdom Marvels through to their respective KH3 stories before I start anymore Kingdom Hearts projects if I can help it._**

 ** _Sora: In answer to your question for me, I think that if I was able to use Master's Defender in the fight against Anti-Aqua, I would probably have just gotten a more powerful version of Second Form as my form change, or something. I mean, when Aqua was using it, all she was able to do was activate Spellweaver, and that was an ability she had even before she had Master's Defender. If it was an entirely new form though, I can't say that I've really thought that much about what I would call it or what abilities it might have. Maybe the name would be something like "Guiding Key" and I'd have a bunch of abilities that were similar to my Master Form in KH2. I'd answer the rest of your questions, but for some reason, every time I try to read them, the others stop me, or turn on some filter thing so that they look like a blur to me._**

 ** _AN: Don't worry, Sora. It wasn't too important. [hits a control that slaps a pair of noise canceling headphones on Sora and Kairi's heads] Just to be clear, we're still trying to avoid mentioning You-Know-Who around those two, since they do in fact still go back into the torture chamber to beat him up even more, so that should probably answer that question._**

 ** _Riku: [still peeling off the lizard skin] I actually like that idea of having Braveheart forming a blade within a blade when I use my ultimate form change for that story, even if it doesn't turn out like what you suggested._**

 ** _Kairi: [having finally removed the headphones] I think I agree with your assessment of how Royal Radiance would change when I use my ultimate form in this story, but it's just a possibility idea for the moment, so you never know. The author could still surprise you._**

 ** _Mickey: I'd still end up using Kingdom Key W by the time we reach this series's version of KH3, and in response to your other question, what makes you think I haven't met Master Yoda?_**

 ** _Ventus: I can't really say anything in regards to Chirithy at this time, as for the moment, there doesn't really seem like too much of a plan in regards to him, and anything beyond that is being kept tightly under lock and key._**

 ** _Aqua: Yeah, I do think I didn't really get too much of a chance to talk with Kairi in the KH3 game, and just so you know, the author is going to have there be at least a little dialogue between Terra and Riku in his version of KH3._**

 ** _Terra: Aqua! I was going to say that! I don't think I would've been able to stop the exam when I noticed the darkness. That would've more than likely resulted in immediate failure for me either way. Besides, the fact that it came out all was the whole reason why I did fail. As for your other questions...sorry, no spoilers._**

 ** _Xion: I was actually pretty happy to hear that there was likely going to be KH3 DLC that would be focused on me, because I really need a few more answers on some things that had happened to me in Kingdom Hearts 3, and I would like to say I was more involved in the story than as just the character who had switched to the good guys' side in the final battles._**

 ** _Xigbar: Hey! Look who's getting to answer! Pretty cool, right?_**

 ** _AN: Just make it quick, will you? I will hit this button._**

 ** _Xigbar: Oh yeah? And what's that gonna do? Another trap door? [AN hits button, and electric shock suddenly zaps Xigbar] OW! The hell was that?! Felt like I was getting blasted by Larxene._**

 ** _AN: Behavioral collar. Surely you noticed when we slipped it on you earlier._**

 ** _Xigbar: So that's what that was...Anyway to answer "CG"'s question...Gee, I just don't know. Be a good boy now. [disappears before he can get zapped again]_**

 ** _AN: [tiredly sighs] Bad guys. Anyways, moving on to the next set of review answers. "Dragon Rider 66", I haven't had a chance to try Gen: Lock yet, and as for Endgame, I'd have to say that one of my absolute favorite parts, (both in that movie and in all the movies of the MCU as a whole), would have to be at the final battle, when literally the entire MCU shows up to fight Thanos, and we finally hear Cap say the line. That. Was. SO. UTTERLY. EPIC! Another would be that last scene between Tony and Thanos. If you've seen the movie, I'm sure you know the one I'm talking about, but I'll clarify a little better for you: it's when Tony looked Thanos straight in the eye and said a very specific line that had helped to kick start everything. And while I did not cry at any point, I did come pretty close to tears at one particular point or two._**

 ** _"Monkey D. Conan", we'll be seeing them using the armor again soon enough, but Wisdom Form won't be coming until after they've dealt with the problem that arises at Disney Castle, just like in the canon story line._**

 ** _Mickey: By the "Guest" of 5/28/2019, the one who asked about Pete's family...well, we tried to let them down gently on the news, but...well, let's just say that I'm really glad that PJ is good friends with Goofy's son, Max, because that helped a lot. At least in regards to the timeline of this series. I'm not sure if that was a thing in canon, but we'll probably find out someday._**

 ** _Xion: Oh, and "Guest" of 5/28/2019, the one who offered me a little something to give Xigbar the next time he calls me Poppet, thanks for that, but I never really minded the nickname that much, at least, not as far as I can remember, but if it does get annoying, I'll be glad to have that around and at the ready._**

 ** _AN: Next review answer is to "Guest" of 5/29/2019, who made a suggestion about Ven liking old timey music. I do kinda like the idea that you suggested, and I may work something like that in later on, but I can't promise anything. I will do my best to try and work it in though._**

 ** _And finally, to the "Guest" of 5/29/2019 that asked about Xion teasing Ven &Aqua...Do you really have to ask? I think it's pretty obvious that she's going to be doing that to everyone until it finally comes back around to her._**

 ** _Now, if we're all done with that, it's time for you all to watch as two of our favorite leading ladies finally get to join in on the action, and at the same time, see how the story diverges from the events of the canon story. Let's fly to the adventure!_**

 ** _I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story._**

* * *

 **Chapter XIII**

She just could not help herself lately. Ever since a few days after she came back to Destiny Islands, Kairi found herself gazing out at the horizon, wondering where her dearest friends were and what kind of adventures that they were experiencing, as the more thought about it, the more restless she became. At first, she thought she could ignore it, but that just made her feel a terrible because it made her feel like she was trying to forget Sora and Riku, and she did not want that. After realizing she could not ignore her restlessness, Kairi decided that she needed to try and prepare herself for the moment when she saw them again, because part of her knew that she would be joining their fight again once they had reunited. This was a bit difficult to do, because it was not like she could ask just anyone on the islands to help her train with the Keyblade, but thankfully, Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie were all still very much aware of what had happened a year ago, so they were able to give her some assistance. It even had the added benefit of helping to keep Tidus from sitting around and being all depressed about Yuna, but for the most part, her friends could only help her refine her basic fighting abilities. None of them really knew anything much about using magic, let alone magic that came with being a Keyblade wielder, so Kairi was especially happy that Aqua had appeared to her almost half a year ago to help continue where Ventus had left off with her training. Sure, she had to keep it secret from her three friends for reasons that only Aqua knew, but it was still a good distraction from the empty feeling she would get whenever she came to watch the Destiny Islands sunset on the beach these days.

That same emptiness had slowly started coming back again as Kairi began to come down to the beach and gaze at the horizon after her training a lot more often than ever, but there was more to it than just that. It felt like something was just calling out to her, egging her on to do something, and with it, there was also a feeling of concern for her friends. She was not sure what had brought that on, but she did know that only started after she had somehow gotten into contact with Roxas, Xion, and Sora that one day, and that had been what drove her to watch the horizon as often as she did now, even when she was dead tired from her training sessions with Aqua. Today though, as she stood on the beach looking out to the sunset and the Play Island across the water, clad in her casual wear, Keyblade armor gauntlet included, all those feelings finally helped Kairi come to an inescapable conclusion.

"Maybe…waiting isn't good enough," Kairi decided, and apparently, that was just what someone had been waiting to hear.

"My thoughts exactly! If you have a dream, don't wait. Act," a strange, cocky voice cheered. Kairi immediately began looking all around her for the speaker, even reaching out with her senses as a Keyblade wielder to try and determine where they were, until she finally saw a collection of shadows suddenly spring up into existence and deposit a tall man with wild, flaming red hair, and what looked like tear-shaped tattoos beneath his green eyes. "One of life's little rules. Got it memorized?"

"Who are you," Kairi questioned as calmly as possible, not because she was afraid, but because she was very suspicious of this stranger.

"Axel," the man introduced. "I happen to be an acquaintance of Sora and Ventus's. Why don't we go see them?"

Kairi was not entirely sure if she believed him or not. As far as she knew, most of Ventus's acquaintances referred to him by his nickname, so hearing Axel refer to the blonde master with his full name threw up a red flag or two for her. Add in the fact that his overall stance did not really scream friendly, even without the fact she saw him appear from some kind of portal made of darkness, and Kairi felt that it would be foolish to take the taller redhead at his word. Still, she was not going to attack him outright if there was a chance he was telling the truth, so she decided to try another approach, "If that's true, then just where is Sora right now?" A minute later, she thought of another thing she could ask, and immediately added, "And do you know anything about someone named Roxas or Xion?"

Her first question did not get any reaction from Axel, but hearing her second question did seem to surprise Axel a little from the way his eyes widened by a small amount, but whether or not he was going to answer her questions remained unclear, as a moment later, they both heard a dog barking. Turning to the dog in question, Kairi was surprised to see none other than King Mickey's ever faithful dog, Pluto bounding towards her, happily barking in excitement as he did, and she was just about to reach out and pet him hello when something very odd pricked at her senses. It seemed to get Pluto's attention too, as he soon stopped barking and started growling while several, strange silver creatures suddenly sprang up from the ground around them.

"You know, part of me is kinda glad that the Assassins still listen to me, but then again, what do you expect from guys that are practically made for you," Axel muttered aloud, not thinking that Kairi might be able to hear him.

In point of fact, Kairi did hear what Axel said, and just hearing the name of these things had put her even more on guard, right to the point where her hand had slowly moved to hover over the dial on her gauntlet so that she could summon her full armor at any moment. She ended up not needing to though, as they were all soon distracted by the sound of a sharp whistle cutting through the air. A minute later, another dark portal opened up behind Kairi, but for some reason, Pluto seemed to think that this one was safe, because he was soon rushing over to it, while barking at Kairi like he wanted her to follow him. Kairi was not really sure if that was a good idea though, but then again, the alternative was to stay routed where she was and find out why these things were called Assassins. Thankfully, the decision was made a little easier when someone else decided to step in.

In a flash of light, the Assassins had all fallen to the ground and disappeared, while another figure in a black coat had appeared alongside Kairi, with the Master's Defender Keyblade in hand. While Kairi was very relieved and had never been happier at Aqua's insistence of always keeping an eye on her at a distance, Axel was far less pleased. "Hey, easy there! Those things don't grow on trees you know, and I only have but so many of them, now," the tall redhead shouted.

Aqua did not pay him any mind, but instead, looked to Kairi and said, "Get to the portal! It'll take you somewhere safe!"

"How do you know that," Kairi asked, skeptical of the idea that a portal like this could lead anywhere that would be described as safe.

"Call it a hunch," was all that Aqua said in reply. "Hurry! I'll be right behind you in a moment!"

"Now why would you all want to do that, anyway," Axel asked. A minute later, more Assassins appeared around the girls, this time with a Dusk or two alongside them, but Axel just carried on like everything was normal. "I mean, we've all got something in common, you know. The three of us each miss someone we care about. Hey…I feel like we're friends already."

"Last I checked, friends don't set monsters against other friends," Aqua retorted, and she then looked back to give Kairi a look from under the hood of her coat that made it clear that the girl needed to listen to her.

Both Aqua's look and comment finally spurned Kairi into action, as she summoned out Destiny's Embrace and slashed through a couple of the Nobodies surrounding them before running to the portal. "You know, Aqua's right," Kairi shouted back just as she was reaching the portal. "You're not acting very friendly!"

A minute later, Kairi had disappeared into the portal, and after firing off a few spells from her Keyblade, Aqua followed right behind the girl, leaving an apparently disgruntled Axel in her wake. That façade was instantly dropped when the portal closed behind the Keyblade master, and Axel was soon seen smirking in satisfaction. "Well, I did my part, or at least the first half of it. Now to just make sure they ended up where you wanted, and we're good," Axel said to himself, dismissing the few Nobodies that were still loyal to him as he, too, teleported away.

* * *

It was a little hard for Kairi to really be sure of what had happened after she stepped through that portal with Aqua and Pluto. The place she had ended up in was very strange to say the least, and despite how the portal had appeared to be formed, she did not pick up on any signs of being in a place of darkness. Yes, she could feel darkness all around her at the time, but it was not like the kind that she had come to associate with the dangerous power that had given rise to the Heartless and thrown her and her friends into the strangeness that was now their lives. More than that, before she followed Aqua and Pluto through what she could only have assumed was the exit, she could have sworn that she had seen someone watching them; someone that felt very familiar to her in a way that she could not quite describe. Before she could turn back to try and better figure out that mystery, she found herself being blinded by the exit's light.

She must have passed out afterwards, because the next thing she knew, she was waking up on the ground, and she could hear several, lively sounds that she knew were not common to Destiny Islands. Upon opening her eyes, she quickly found visual confirmation of what she was already suspecting, as the place she had ended up in was also unfamiliar to her. The only saving grace was that she was not alone, as Aqua was kneeling over her, making sure she was okay, Pluto was sitting off to the side, panting and wagging his tail happily, and there were three other kids all around them looking down at her in concern.

"Are you okay," one of the kids asked Kairi. When she did not say anything in response, he took that to mean she was a little confused, and quickly explained, "You two and that dog came flying out of a hole in the wall. You nearly gave us heart attacks!"

"Um…Sorry," Kairi apologized. It was not like she could really think of anything else to say, but she did relax a little more upon seeing that these three meant no harm. Granted, she probably should have realized that by now since neither Pluto nor Aqua seemed too concerned about them, but you could never be too sure. "Who…are you three? And where are we?"

"My name's Pence, and these are my pals, Hayner and Olette," the boy who spoke up said. "As for where you are, you're in our regular hangout in Market Street. You know, of Twilight Town?"

Kairi nodded to each of the new faces upon introduction, but she could not help but tilt her head in confusion upon hearing the name of their location. When she turned to Aqua, she did not even get a chance to ask the obvious question before the older woman gave an affirmative nod. "Different world," Aqua whispered to further confirm it for Kairi, making sure to keep her voice as low as possible so that the other three could not hear her.

It did not matter whether or not they could hear her or not though, as Olette found herself commenting aloud, "You know, you two kind of remind me of some friends of ours that were here recently, but had to leave pretty fast. They seemed pretty lost when we first met them, too, but they looked like they had been to a lot of places."

"Really," Kairi asked, intrigued by the comparison. She was sure it was probably just a coincidence though.

"So…what're your names," Hayner asked.

"Oh! Sorry, I guess we both forgot our manners for a moment there," Aqua quickly apologized. "My name's Aqua and this is Kairi. The dog is Pluto, and he belongs to a very good friend of ours."

"Nice to meet you all," Kairi bowed in greeting. She then thought of something else she could add, and figured she had nothing to lose, she revealed, "We're actually looking for some friends of ours. There are four of them all together, but the most notable are two boys, a man that looks to be the same age as Aqua and a boy my age, both with spiky hair, and maybe carrying around giant keys. Any chance you guys have seen them?"

Kairi's question seemed to draw surprised looks from the three local kids, and she soon found out why when Hayner said, "That actually sounds a lot like some of the guys Olette was talking about."

"Yeah. Does that mean you two know Sora, Roxas, Xion, Ventus, Donald, or Goofy," Pence asked.

"SORA?!" Kairi gasped in surprise.

"Ven's here?!" Aqua asked in equal shock.

"Well, they were here," Pence clarified. "But they left a while back on one of the trains."

"How do you know them, though," Olette asked.

Aqua and Kairi shared a look with each other, before the former finally said, "It's a bit of a long story."

"Hey, we've got time," Hayner shrugged, and he was soon taking a seat along with his two best friends so that they could get comfortable for the tale.

A short time later, Kairi and Aqua had each regaled the Twilight Town gang with their individual stories, or at least as much as they could tell them without revealing anything that they should not be telling the three. Everything from Aqua's Mark of Mastery Exam, the tragedy that had befallen her and her friends, Destiny Islands being attacked by the Heartless, Kairi's heart ending up inside of Sora's for nearly the entirety of his last journey, and all the other important details in between were told. Laughs were shared, tears were shed, and by the end, the two Keybearers could tell that they had left quite the impression on their current hosts.

"What a romantic story," Olette dreamily sighed.

"Which one? Kairi's or Aqua's," Hayner questioned, since both girls' stories did seem to paint quite the pretty picture about their feelings for their respective loved ones.

"Both," Olette insisted.

"Well, technically, it's all really the same story, so…" Aqua pointed out with a shrug, and even though she was still wearing her hood, they all knew she was smiling underneath it.

That earned a small laugh from Kairi and the others, and when they all calmed down again, Pence told the two new arrivals, "You know, if you guys stick around, Sora and Ven are bound to show."

"Yeah, they said they're coming back," Hayner remembered.

Part of Kairi wanted to say no and find a way to get to other worlds so she could go searching for Sora herself. Aqua had still not taught her how to use a Keyblade Glider yet, let alone, how to navigate other worlds on one, so she was not going to be able to travel that way. On the other hand, staying somewhere that Sora said he would be coming back to did seem like a better option, but what if Sora never did come back? After all, as far as she knew, it was not possible for Sora to visit any of the worlds they had been to before ever since they defeated Ansem, so what if the path Sora traveled down to leave Twilight Town was no longer there?

Aqua was just as conflicted about this as Kairi. Part of her thought it would be better if they returned to Destiny Islands, because she would be able to better protect Kairi there. Then again, after that encounter with Axel, Aqua was not so sure if it was safe for them on the islands anymore. Perhaps it would be better for them to remain in Twilight Town, both to keep Kairi safe, and so that they could wait for the boys to come back. Plus she could also sense that there was something connecting this town to a place she was very familiar with, and if it was, she could more than likely get Kairi some better training, and more suitable combat attire. She continued going over all the list of pros and cons to their staying in Twilight Town for a few more minutes, until suddenly, something peaked at the edge of her senses that she did not like the feeling of at all.

"I don't think our staying is entirely all that optional either way, at the moment," Aqua announced, jumping to her feet and racing out of the small hangout, much to everyone's surprise.

"Aqua, what's wrong? Hey! Wait for me," Kairi shouted as she chased after her master, not realizing that Hayner, Pence, and Olette were right behind her.

* * *

Aqua's rapid departure from Kairi and the others may have been abrupt, but the blue haired woman just could not ignore what she had sensed. It was not darkness, necessarily, but it was not light either. If anything, the only comparison she had for this sensation would probably be the unease she had felt when the Unversed were threatening the worlds eleven years ago, and even that was a stretch. The Unversed may not have been creatures born of natural means, but they were still manifestations of negative emotions, so there was at least something to feel from them. Whatever it was that Aqua was picking up on, the only way she could think of to describe it was emptiness, and that worried her a little, because the last time she had sensed that from someone or something was almost a year ago, when she had finally found herself back at the place that had once been her home before she transformed it to keep its secrets safe: Castle Oblivion.

Following her senses, Aqua ended up having to push her way through a crowd of frightened people who were fleeing the scene until she finally made it into the Sandlot and saw just what it was that she had picked up on. Going around the perimeter of the large, open area that laid in the center of Market Street in their usual, strange dance of twists, flips, and spins, were more of the same silver creatures that Axel had set loose on her and Kairi, or more accurately, the basic Dusks, and standing right in the middle of the circling creatures were none was a gang of kids that appeared to be led by a blonde boy in a white coat and a black beanie. Aqua had to applaud these kids for being brave enough to try and fight these creatures, but from what she could see, she had to wonder if it was bravery or stupidity that was driving them to act. It did not really matter though, because right now, those kids needed help, and she was the only one who could provide that assistance.

"Back off," Aqua shouted as she summoned Master's Defender, and as she continued to charge, she quickly fired off a couple blasts of Firaga before casting a simple Blizzard spell to create an icy trail along the ground. When the trail fully formed, Aqua immediately jumped on and rocketed right into the center of the battlefield using Flowmotion. Just before she reached the end of the ice path, she used that same power to warp next to several Dusks, and delivered a powerful slash that took them all out at once. While her efforts did not get rid of all the Dusks that now surrounded her and the kids, it did help her to create the opening she was aiming for. "Get out of here! I'll handle these things!"

"Yeah, right," the blonde boy scoffed. "I'm not gonna take orders from some outsider. Besides, I can't just let someone threaten my town without taking disciplinary measures."

"Oh yeah, Seifer's always lookin' after the town, y'know," the bigger boy grunted in agreement, obviously not knowing that he and his buddy were just getting Aqua annoyed with their attitudes.

"Well you won't be able to take any kind of measures if these things kill you, so leave, now," Aqua ordered, her tone indicating no room for argument.

Seifer looked like he was going to snap at Aqua for that when a Dusk suddenly jumped him, making him stumble back. He tried to smack it away with his Struggle bat, but the simple weapon just seemed to pass right through the Dusk, allowing it to knock Seifer on his back. Just when it was charging again, an orb of light suddenly blasted the Dusk into nothing but smoke and air, saving Seifer at just the last minute. When the boy turned to face his savior, he was honestly a little surprised to see Kairi moving to stand between him and the remaining Dusks with her Destiny's Embrace Keyblade in hand. "I'd listen to my master if I were you buddy. We can't fight these things off if we have to worry about you and your friends getting hurt," Kairi advised as she assumed what looked to be similar to a basic fencing stance.

This time, Seifer did not argue, but from the blush on his face, Aqua had a pretty good idea as to why he was keeping quiet after Kairi told him to run, and it made her narrow her eyes at the boy to the point where they were practically slits. After all, in his current position, Aqua would not be surprised at what Seifer had probably gotten a good view of at some point while Kairi was making her way over, and that was all the more reason for her to kick him as hard as she did. "Will you get moving already," Aqua irritably shouted. "And take your friends with you."

"Uh…Yes ma'am," Seifer stuttered before helping his bigger buddy drag the other members of his gang away. This time he had definitely picked up on the woman's irritation, and he had clearly decided to listen due to remembering a certain bit of ancient wisdom regarding a woman's scorn.

Aqua watched the four kids go for a minute before she assumed her own regular battle stance, and then glanced over at Kairi. "You shouldn't have followed me," Aqua lightly scolded.

"Hey, what did you think was going to happen when you suddenly took off like that with little to no explanation," Kairi asked in retort. "Besides, you got to have all the fun dealing with these guys last time, while I only took down one or two. I think I deserve a chance to get in on the action this time."

Hearing her apprentice say that, Aqua could not help but sigh in defeat, knowing that it was pointless to say anything in order to dissuade her now for many different reasons, and said, "Well in that case, you may want to armor up, just to be on the safe side. We don't know the full extent of what these things can do."

Kairi nodded in response and immediately tapped the dial on her gauntlet to summon out her Keyblade armor. In an instant, Kairi became clad in her form-fitting, basic Keyblade Warrior armor, which was colored pink, white, and purple, and upon resuming her previous fighting stance, the redhead was ready to enter battle once again. Aqua could only nod at the sight of this, mainly because that was the only reaction she could give at the moment due to the Dusks suddenly charging again. The girls were both ready though, as they each immediately summoned forth a magic barrier with a wave of their free hands, and when the Dusks hit the shields, they were quickly blown backwards when said barriers exploded outwards.

Aqua made the next attack, jumping forward to strike down three enemies at once with a single attack, before she spun on her heel and fired off a blast of magic. Instead of a basic spell though, Aqua made it a point to use some of her more advanced spells, starting off with Triple Blizzaga, which sent three large chunks of ice flying through multiple Dusks, each. Her next spell was a hot one, as she shot a large ball of flames overhead that soon sent multiple fireballs fling in all directions, setting some of the Dusks on fire if they were not immediately destroyed, and to make sure that they did not get too far away, she quickly cast the spell Zero Graviga to suspend the Dusks in mid-air. Aqua switched it up to fight with some simple sword slashes, stabs, and strikes for a little bit, but when she caught sight of some Dusks trying to get her from behind, she immediately cast the spell, Seeker Mine, creating a number of magical traps near her that zoomed out and exploded on her attackers before they could get close.

While Aqua's latest spell granted her the ability to finally activate her signature Command Style, Spellweaver, Kairi was also able to take advantage of that last magic attack and destroy the Dusks that had survived the explosion from Aqua's Seeker Mine with a few quick thrusts of her Keyblade. Looking on at Kairi, Aqua had to smile a little as she watched the girl attack with simple, regular attacks as opposed to just spamming her magic over and over like she had early on in their training. Not that Aqua was opposed to Kairi being primarily a magic fighter like her, but even she knew that the auburn haired girl had needed some serious help in developing her fighting technique, even with the help that her friends had given. Luckily Aqua had studied up on various different fighting styles, and soon found that the one Kairi now used was perfect for her. On the surface, it seemed rather similar to the style of a fencer, but it also allowed Kairi to make good use of her flexibility and speed so that she could easily outmaneuver and wear down opponents without taking too much action, a very good style to utilize for any magic user. Kairi proved this as she spun around a pair of Dusks that tried to jump her from the side, and then proceeded to return the favor by blasting them with one of the spells that Aqua had taught her: Fission Firaga, a very fiery spell that shot out a fireball that exploded outwards on impact and caught nearby foes in the blast.

Kairi's last spell turned out to be just what she needed to activate her own Unique Command Style: Shooting Star and the girls were both grinning in excitement as a result, knowing that their opponents were in so much trouble now. Aqua took the lead for the most part, gliding across the Sandlot and spinning her Keyblade through the air via light magic, allowing her to destroy several enemies at once, but near the end of each of her combo attacks, Kairi would always come dashing in to slash and/or blast away any foes that would dare to try and come close to Aqua as she spun her Keyblade around for the final hit in her combo attack. Eventually, they had to bring things to an end, and they did so in style by unleashing the full powers of their Command Styles' respective finishers. Aqua's Spellweaver quickly destroyed several of the Dusks, and any stragglers were soon wiped out by Kairi's Shooting Star, leaving only the two Keybearers in the Sandlot.

Once they were sure that there were no longer any enemies in the area, the two finally relaxed, thinking that they had been through the worst of it, until the sound of someone clapping reached their ears. Upon turning around, their eyes both narrowed again at the sight of the very person who was at least partially responsible for their being in Twilight Town. "You again," Aqua hissed as she raised her Keyblade, preparing to fire off her best Shotlock.

"Hey easy there, hottie. I was just here to enjoy the show and make sure you could get through that," Axel placated, but he ended up flinching a little when Aqua growled at him for calling her hottie. "Besides, you're acting like I'm the one who sent those Nobodies after you."

"You know, just because they're monsters, doesn't mean you can call them something like that," Kairi admonished.

Axel just looked at her for a minute before he chuckled, "Wow. I thought you were supposed to be one of the smarter ones in your bunch of friends. I'm not being mean and calling them names; that's literally what those creatures you just fought are called: Nobodies. Sure, Dusks like those are the lowest common denominator on the totem pole, but they're still Nobodies all the same, and like any other Nobody, they don't have hearts. Some people say that means they don't exist, but others…well, everyone's entitled to their own opinion, right?"

The girls just exchanged confused glances with each passing word that Axel spoke. One minute the guy seemed like he was going to try and either kidnap or hurt Kairi, and then the next time they see him, he was actually giving them what could likely be valuable information? Just what was his story? "Why are you telling us all of this," Kairi asked.

"Oh, I just thought you might like to know a little about whose public enemy number one for anyone that travels to other worlds these days. I mean, it's only right that you're at least a little in the know like each of your boyfriends," Axel shrugged. "That said, I'd avoid anyone wearing black coats like the ones me and your Keyblade master friend there are wearing. It's a sure sign of someone being with the Organization, and they're definitely not Nobodies that you want to deal with without being ready."

"The Organization," Aqua questioned in surprise. She had heard of the group before, back when she was at Castle Oblivion with Mickey and Riku, and during a specific event in her first journey through the worlds as a Keyblade master, but she did not think that she would be hearing of them again this soon. "How do you know about them?"

Axel's confident posture faltered at that point, and he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head as he said, "Yeah…that's complicated."

"Axel," an intimidating voice interrupted, startling the tall redhead when he heard it. A moment later, another dark portal appeared, and a man in a black coat just like Axel and Aqua's appeared. The only difference was that he was keeping his hood up, but Axel did not need to see this person's face to know who it was, or that their being here meant trouble for him.

"Whoops! Looks like our time's up for now, ladies. Gotta go," Axel rapidly bade in farewell, and before anyone knew what was happening, he had disappeared into another dark corridor.

Aqua and Kairi were about to give chase when the mystery man suddenly turned to them and summoned out a massive, spiked claymore that he soon held at the ready. "You two are to come with me, at once," the man stated coolly. It may have been a threat, but his voice was so even and emotionless that it almost came off as though he were stating a simple fact.

"And why would we do that," Kairi demanded, already adopting her battle stance once again.

When Aqua also assumed her ready position, the man seemed to scoff a little as he said, "If I had a heart, this would be where I would sigh in irritation. I am merely trying to deal with at least one of our three traitors, and keeping the two of you out their reach can ensure that."

"Right. I'm sure you care a great deal about what happens to us," Aqua retorted.

"Perhaps we would, if we had hearts to care," the man stated. "We're more interested in what you two represent."

"Meaning?"

"You're the fire that feeds Ventus's anger, just as Kairi is the fire that feeds Sora's," the man replied as simply as you please.

When they put together the pieces on what that simple sentence would entail, both girls were quickly riled up to whole new level, and Kairi proved it when she snapped, "If you think we're going to let you use us to put Sora or Ven in danger, then you've got another thing coming."

"So then, you don't wish to see them again," the man questioned.

"Of course we do. More than anything," Aqua replied as she held a hand to her heart, feeling it ache at the mere thought of finally being reunited with her love again. The ache quickly passed though as her heart hardened as she finished, "But I don't need your help to finally reunite with Ven."

"Yeah. I'll see Sora again, and without you around," Kairi promised as she pointed her Keyblade at the cloaked stranger.

The man just stared at the two for a minute before he finally just dismissed his weapon with a huff and opened another dark portal. "We'll just see about that. Either way, I doubt you two will be going anywhere any time soon, and I have other matters to address for now. Just make sure you are careful should Axel appear again. I may be Number VII, but Axel was only one rank below me for many different reasons."

With his part said, the man stepped into the portal and disappeared from the Sandlot. The girls still took a few minutes to survey the area with all of their senses before they finally stood down and breathed sighs of relief. "I get the feeling that he's not going to give up on getting us that easily," Kairi panted after she had dismissed her armor.

"And that may put the townsfolk here in danger," Aqua mused. "Maybe staying here isn't such a good idea after all."

"But what if those things come back and this time no one's around to stop them? We're the only ones who could do anything against them, and if these Nobodies are as bad as the Heartless, then we can't just let them do whatever they want," Kairi pointed out.

Aqua nodded in agreement on that, and then smiled as she said, "I never said that we were going to leave right away. Besides, neither of us has any way of getting to other worlds at the moment, save for maybe one particular world that we can get to from here, so we're going to be sticking around for quite a bit."

"You'd better be, because you've still got some business with us," a rather rude voice cut in, making the two girls turn to see that Seifer and his gang were back. "Like I said, no one causes trouble in my town without paying a price."

"Um, excuse me? We just saved your town and your lives from those monsters. Last I checked, the usual thing to say to a person that helps you is 'thank you,'" Kairi snapped back.

"Please. We didn't need any help," the big guy scoffed in an attempt to look tough. "Seifer had 'em right where he wanted 'em, y'know."

"Unnecessary interference," the girl of the group nodded in agreement, while the shortest kid in the large hat just kept quiet in the back, but still seemed to agree with the others.

"Really? Because those bruises on your arms and faces say otherwise," Aqua pointed out, indicating the obviously visible injuries on the gang before them. There were a few more on Seifer and his bigger friend than the other two, and Aqua had to figure that it was due to them just rushing in without thinking. It would have made her smile in reminiscence of how Ventus was like that so many years ago if the situation were not so bothersome.

"What did you say," Seifer growled. "You want to start something, lady?"

"Hey, back off, Seifer," Hayner's voice suddenly shouted, finally alerting Kairi and Aqua to the fact that he and his friends had followed them. "They've got enough problems of their own without you making things harder for them."

Seifer immediately sneered as he moved to get in Hayner's face, with the other blonde starting to do the same, until Olette and the girl from Seifer's group both moved to hold the two back. "Easy Hayner," Olette said. "Seifer's just being a typical bully like always. You know how he is, especially with people that are new in town."

"Settle later," the other girl whispered to Seifer.

Both boys continued glaring at each other for another minute or so, until Seifer finally just shoved off his girl's hand, and leveled one last glare at the group in front of him as a whole before he looked directly at the two Keybearers. "Fine. I'll let you off for now, but I'll expect to see you two here later for a Struggle match so that we can really settle things."

Neither Aqua nor Kairi could voice any protest before Seifer turned around and stopped away with the rest of his gang, so in the end, they just let out tired sighs, feeling like that encounter was more exhausting than the fight with the Dusks. "What's his problem," Kairi asked.

"Oh, don't mind him," Pence waved off. "Seifer's always been a jerk to just about everyone in town, but most especially to us since he and Hayner have had a beef with each other for years. It only got to this point when he got Fuu, Rai, and later Vivi to help him form the 'Twilight Town Disciplinary Committee.' They say that they're job is to go around and help out the town, but it's really just an excuse for Seifer to pick on anyone he wants."

"Not that they don't do anything to help out at all, but most of the time, it is mainly just a way for Seifer to find some poor sap that he can try and force into a Struggle match," Olette clarified.

"If that's the case, maybe we should meet up and have a match with him sometime while we're here," Aqua determined, feeling more than a little irritated at the idea of someone using a position of power, or the closest they could get to one in order to bully someone.

"Ah, leave it for later," Hayner huffed, still a little irritated from his encounter with Seifer. "He'll get what's coming to him soon enough, and I guarantee, it'll be so beautiful when it happens."

"Yeah, for now, how about we help you guys find some place to stay while you're waiting for Sora and Ven to come back," Pence offered. "It may be pretty pricey, even if we were to try somewhere on Sunset Boulevard, but I think we can get together some munny if we all take on some odd jobs here in town."

"That's very nice of you to offer, but I think we'll be okay," Aqua declined. "I have a friend that lives nearby who might be able to help us out."

Kairi quirked an eyebrow at Aqua upon hearing that, wondering if that was just a convenient lie to hide that they were probably going to be camping out in the woods nearby or something until she felt a familiar tingling in the back of her head. _"The last time I spoke with Mickey, he told me that Master Yen Sid had set up a connection between his world and another via a train station. I could sense traces of his magic nearby earlier, so I'm betting that this is that world he set up the link with."_

 _"So basically, we're going to stay with this Master Yen Sid,"_ Kairi thought back in questioning. She was still not quite used to using the D-Link to secretly communicate with someone, but she did have enough of a hang of it to keep herself from saying the question out loud.

 _"Among other things. I think it's high time we got your wardrobe a few upgrades,"_ Aqua replied with a smile. She then looked to the three local kids and said, "You can still show us around the town a little if you want before then, but we are going to have to head for the train station before it gets too late."

Hayner, Pence, and Olette all nodded in agreement, and with that, the three eagerly began to lead the two newcomers on their own personal tour of Twilight Town. Kairi was excited to be exploring a world without any big threats looming or having some major mission to undertake for the first time, but at the same time, she could not help but hope that wherever he was, Sora was okay.

* * *

The next time Axel opened a Dark Corridor, he practically barreled out of it before grasping the wall in an effort to stay upright while he caught his breath. Not that you could blame him. He knew better than anyone how Saïx could be when he was mad before he was a Nobody, and it had only become even worse afterwards. Sure, you could say that the Lunar Diviner was never actually mad since he did not have a heart like the rest of the members in the Organization, but more often than not, Axel could swear that was not true for the claymore wielder. If anything, Saïx only kept the parts of his heart that allowed him to feel anger, spite, and various other unpleasant emotions that had led to their falling out with one another. In all honesty, if Axel were to fight Saïx, he was only fifty percent sure that he could win by himself, so it was only natural that he would want to fight with someone by his side when up against the man who was once his childhood friend, preferably Roxas and Xion, and maybe even Ventus just for the hell of it. He probably would include Sora on the list of people he would want to have his back in a fight against Saïx, but after what he just did, he had a sneaking suspicion that the spiky haired Keyblade warrior would not be too eager to team-up once he found out about it.

When he finally managed to breathe easy again, Axel stood up straight before leaning his back against the wall and sighed, "Phew! That was way too close. But, I got the thing done, so I'd say me and Ansem should be all good now."

"Hey, Axel. Welcome back," a sweet voice called out, startling the pyro so much that he jumped almost six feet in the air.

Upon turning to the culprit, Axel sighed again, this time in both relief and slight annoyance, and said, "Naminé, don't scare like me that! I thought you were taking a nap or something."

"I was, but I woke up a little while ago and saw that you were gone. Shouldn't you be keeping an especially close eye on me at a time like that? I can't exactly defend myself that much when I'm awake, let alone when I'm sleeping," the blonde artist critiqued, though she did so with a good-natured smile, so it was obvious to Axel she was mostly messing with him.

"Come on! Have you looked around this place," Axel asked as he gestured about the room they were in. Their latest hideout was actually a very fancy hotel room, and even at a simple glance, one could tell that it was very high-end, and likely possessed some very impressive security. "I'm pretty sure that if anyone tried to get in here, you'd have noticed long before they could try something."

Naminé was not entirely sure if she could agree with him or not, so in the end, she just shrugged in reply, pulled her out her ever-present sketchpad, and decided to address the big concern. "Just what were you doing that left you so jumpy and panting like you had just run a few marathons?"

"Taking care of a favor for a friend. Shouldn't have been too big of a problem, and it went pretty smoothly for a bit, until Saïx showed up looking ready to put an end to me. I'm not sure how they realized I was even there. I mean, I know the place we all ended up on last is pretty close to the Organization's main stronghold, but even so, they shouldn't have been able to easily catch a whiff of my scent since I'm still wearing this coat," Axel explained.

"Well maybe it was just a case of bad luck. I mean, it's not like you summoned any Dusks while you were doing this favor or something," Naminé reasoned as she moved to put colored pencil to paper. She paused just as the tip of the drawing utensil was a hair's breath away from the page though, because Axel did not immediately reply, and when she turned to face him, she saw that the towering redhead had gone a little stiff in the shoulders, nervously glancing from side to side. That got her attention and made her both concerned and a bit annoyed. "You didn't summon any Dusks while you were doing that favor, did you, Axel?"

"Pfft! What?! Of course not," Axel replied a little too quickly, and even then, the fact his voice cracked a little bit as he spoke definitely indicated that he was lying, making the blonde girl start to glare at him a little. It may not have been very intimidating coming from Naminé, but Axel had been hanging around this kid long enough to know that she would only give a person that look if she was really upset with them, right to the point where she would make them regret it once she learned what they did. That did not mean he was going to go down without a fight though. "I didn't! Really! I mean, why would I do that? Summoning Dusks is…is bad for us. Really bad."

"Yes, it is, and do you remember why it is bad," Naminé questioned.

"Uh…Of course I remember," Axel nervously chuckled, proving to Naminé that he had forgotten. Hey, the girl's a memory sorceress, so she's learned a thing or two about picking up facial and body language that indicates a person is thinking of certain memories. Axel had definitely realized this early on in their time in this crazy witness-protection thing, and he quickly tried to deflect the question back to her. "Do _you_ remember why it's bad?"

"Because, the Organization can track us through the Dusks," Naminé easily answered, talking nice and slow as if she were explaining something to an idiot. "Even if it's one that only answers to a specific member of the Organization, like your Assassins for example, since any member can command any and all varieties of the Nobodies if their ranking or number is high enough. For example, since you were Number VIII, you can control the Samurais, even though they were directly commanded by Roxas."

"Right, but you forget, not all of the member specific Dusks will always follow those commands, especially if they encounter the person they are supposed to work under," Axel pointed out.

"Maybe, but even then, their instincts are not as easily overridden," Naminé countered. "Since a good amount of the remaining members in the Organization are of a higher rank and number than you, Roxas, and Xion, they can easily command each of your Nobodies, assuming Xion ever had any to command. More importantly though, the Organization can track the Dusks movements so they know when, where, and who summons them at a moment's notice, a fact that we learned Xemans had ordered to keep a closer eye on so that he may better find us. This was all stuff that we learned thanks to some of your reconnaissance missions to the Organization's base."

"Right, exactly, which is why we agreed that it would be best if I did not try to summon any Dusks at all, even if they were some of the few Assassins that are still loyal to me," Axel rapidly nodded. He then went silent for a few seconds, and Naminé took that to mean that everything was okay now, until he asked, "So…Assuming I _did_ use any Dusks recently…How long does the trace last again?"

"AXEL," Naminé cried in despair, now knowing for a fact that the redhead had used Dusks.

"I'm sorry! I didn't have much of a choice in the matter! I had to make it look like I was a bad guy at first so that…" Axel started to explain in his defense.

Naminé just groaned in disbelief and slight annoyance before he could get any further than that, and then leapt up from her seat to put away her art supplies and gather up what few other things she had. "Great. That's just great. Now we've gotta pack up and move earlier than expected. Better grab your stuff and make sure to check us out as fast as possible."

"Wait a minute! I'm the one in charge," Axel started to snap, only to stop short when Naminé leveled him with another look, so he quickly made an addition to his statement. "…Of keeping you safe. I'll decide if we need to move early." He then fell silent for a moment or two, making sure that Naminé was taking his hasty correction well, before he finally said, "All right, pack up all your things while I check us out as fast as possible. We've gotta move earlier than planned."

Naminé rolled her eyes a little at her current guardian the second he turned his back to leave the room and check out at the front desk, but she did so with a smile. Axel may not always be the brightest of people, but he was a good friend to have around. She would have also said that his heart was in the right place, but then again, unlike Roxas and Xion, Axel had not gained a heart of his own. At least, not as far as Naminé knew, but even before the two of them fell into this whole mess together, there had been days when she was not so sure about that.

* * *

What Naminé and Axel did not know was that the very world that they had been hiding out on also turned out to be the next destination for the team in their adventure. After enjoying a very amazing dinner at Beast's castle, which was accompanied with a very musical performance that they all got a kick out of, the team had only stayed for a few more moments due to being so stuffed. While they were resting up, Beast actually pulled Roxas aside and gifted him with not one, but two new Keychains. Roxas had to take some time in order to identify the first one, which he revealed to be called Rumbling Rose, but the second one, surprisingly, he named in a matter of seconds as Pain of Solitude. When the others asked he figured that what the second Keychain was so quickly, Roxas just shrugged and said that it was familiar, much like Midnight Roar had been for Xion when she first obtained it. He was more interested in how Beast had come to have it, but when he asked the big guy, Beast just said that he found it one day while he was patrolling the castle grounds for Heartless, and decided to hold onto it just to be safe. It seemed a little strange that one of the Keychains that Roxas may have once used ended up here of all places, and everyone was left pondering on whether or not they would find anymore Keychains like that for Roxas and Xion.

After those conversations and a few last goodbyes, it was back to the _Kingdom-A_ , and off to another world. This time though, the ride did not go quite as smoothly, as they found themselves attacked by several Heartless ships while en route, and so, the new ship had flown right into its first battle. Thankfully, the only overwhelming factor that they had to deal with was the numbers, and the ship's shields were able to hold up well enough under any attacks that were launched or able to get through. Not that they had to worry too much about any of those things, because with Roxas and Xion proved to be just as capable at handling the weapons systems as Sora had been with the weapons on the old gummi ship. It was probably the shortest in-flight battle that any of them team could ever remember having, but instead of feeling reassured, they just got the ominous sense that the next few battles would only get worse as time went on.

By the time that the team had fended off their attackers and made it to this world, Axel and Naminé were already long gone without any of them ever even suspecting that the two were there. At least, for the most part none of them seemed to notice, because as they were passing by the building that the two had been hiding out in, Roxas could not help but pause and stare at it curiously. "What's the matter, Roxas," Xion inquired.

"Nothing. I just got a funny feeling all of a sudden," Roxas replied with a shrug.

Xion just looked at him before she finally returned her attention to the street they were currently heading down, and she could not help but chuckle a little at how Sora was turning every which way to take in their surroundings with a wide smile on his face. "Geez, Sora. You're acting like you've never been in a city before," Xion teased.

"Not one like this! I mean, just look at this place! It's huge," Sora cheered as he continued to run about like an excited child.

"Yeah, it does seem pretty exciting," Goofy agreed, and the four Keybearers all turned to look at their two friends in response, once again having to pause for a moment as they took in each of their new appearances.

For some reason, when they arrived on this world, the enchantments that allowed Donald and Goofy to blend in better on whatever world they visited had activated, and granted both of the two cartoon characters very human-like appearances. They were still the same size as they were before, but instead of looking like some type of dog, Goofy now looked like a tall and lanky black man with very short hair, while Donald was a shorter man with slightly tanned skin that was common among sailors, with regulation-length, white hair. Goofy's outfit had remained largely unchanged, save for how his gloves seemed to have shrunk down to better fit his hands, but Donald's outfit did see the addition of a pair of stark white pants and boots that were the same color of yellow as his usual feet. It was still pretty weird for Roxas and Xion to see the two go through such a drastic change, and while Sora and Ven had experience with world-specific form changes, this was the first time that only certain members of their group had been altered to such an extent.

Shaking off the still surprising change in his two friends' appearance, Sora was soon smiling again as he declared, "I feel so metropolitan!" He then crossed his arms in thought before he reconsidered his choice of words. "Uh, cosmopolitan?"

"Try not-apolitan, you crazy island brat," Donald snapped, having gotten rather annoyed with Sora's excitement over their location when they had barely even done anything just yet. After he had spoken though, everyone froze in their tracks and stared at him, because they had just witnessed another change in Donald that this world seemed to have required of him.

"Whoa…Was that…Was that Donald's voice," Roxas asked.

"I think it was," Ventus confirmed, hardly able to believe it himself.

"He sounds so…so…" Xion analyzed as she tried to find a word to describe the change in a way that was not offensive.

"Normal," Sora finally finished, having already figured out that there was no other way to say it.

Donald must not have been paying any attention, because he was still quiet even after hearing everyone's comments on his voice. A minute later, he opened his mouth to speak again, starting slowly before picking up the pace with a single sentence, and smiling a little more with each repetition of the phrase. "Rubber baby buggy bumpers. Rubber baby buggy bumpers. Rubber-baby-buggy-bumpers," Donald recited until he finally just let out an excited cheer of his own. "Wow! I've never been able to say that before!"

"Probably because your voice was always so high-pitched, scratchy, and unintelligible," Roxas pointed out without really thinking.

"I'll show you unintelligible," Donald growled before giving chase to the younger blonde of the group, earning a round of laughter from everyone.

"See? Now that's another good reason to be excited! This place is a blast," Sora cheered, thinking that proved his point.

"But we only just got here. We haven't even done anything yet," Goofy mused, confused as to how the place could be considered that great so quickly.

"Well, that's Sora for ya," Ventus shrugged with a casual smile. "Always finding something incredible in the simplest of things."

"Oh, you want a blast? I'll show ya a blast," Donald declared as he gave up his chase of Roxas in favor of preparing to go for Sora, and with the change to his voice, his statement actually made some of the group get shivers up their spines. Those shivers turned into straight up jumps of surprise when they all heard an explosion from somewhere close by. "Uh…that wasn't me," Donald immediately insisted.

"No, that was trouble," Ventus determined, summoning Guardian Wind as he spoke, having already sensed a very familiar presence from the direction that the sound had come from. "Come on!"

"Right behind you," Sora shouted back with Kingdom Key already in his hand, and the others were all quick to follow after as well.

One race down several city blocks later, the team finally came to a halt at the sight of the explosion that they had previously heard, and while they were not too surprised to find several Heartless about the area, both old and new, they did still find something that they were not expecting at all. Right in the center of all the chaos, thrashing around at anything and everything it could, was what the team could only describe as the largest man they had ever seen, and the most peculiar thing about him was the fact that he was in a grey suit of armor with a horn on top of his helmet, making him look a lot like a rhino. Apparently, his size was a good reflection of his strength, because they all saw this big animal-like man easily lift up a number of cars to toss around like baseballs, before he finally lifted a bus over his head and threw it towards a building.

Hearing screams coming from inside the bus, Ventus knew that there were likely still people inside, and he immediately aimed Guardian Wind at the bus before casting Zero Gravity, halting its flight in midair. Sora then summoned out his Keyblade Glider, and flew up to make sure that the people were okay, while Donald and Xion set to work making a way to get everyone down to safety on the ground. With those three handling things there, Roxas and Goofy joined Ventus in his attack on the rhino-man and the Heartless. Among the Heartless were a number of Shadows, but a good majority of them were new ones that were capable of changing between two different modes. One mode had it racing across the ground on its tires, while the second saw those same wheels lift up and become a pair of energy-bladed wings so that it could fly, but no matter what mode they were in, they were still capable of delivering very vicious attacks that had the three jumping and dodging for their lives.

"Just what are these guys," Goofy asked as he deflected one of the new Heartless away from him with his shield.

Sora glanced over at the new Heartless, and then turned to his hood where he could just barely see Jiminy flipping through the pages of his journal. "Anytime, Jiminy," Sora prompted.

"I'm looking as fast as I can," the cricket insisted. Finally, he found the entry he was looking for, and he quickly read it aloud. "They're called Tireblades. They're still really new, so not that much is known about them other than what you guys are seeing right now."

"Good to know," Ventus remarked as he leapt from the ground and up to a lamppost, using Flowmotion to spin himself around in preparation for a powerful slashing attack. His spin attack destroyed a good number of Shadows and airborne Tireblades, but the fire spell he shot off at the rhino-man afterwards did not seem to do anything to the big guy. "So…any ideas on what that thing is?"

"There's nothing in my journal about that," Jiminy shouted.

"I don't think it's a Heartless," Xion reasoned as she carried the last bus passenger to safety. Upon getting that person clear, she turned to rejoin the fight, not noticing that the Zero Gravity spell holding the bus up was starting to fade out, or that the bus was already beginning to slowly descend to the ground again while she was passing underneath it.

Sora did notice though, and made to try and help her, but was ultimately cut off when some of the airborne Tireblades suddenly knocked him out of the air and away from where Xion was. He would have tried to rush back over but even without the Shadows that were blocking his path, he knew that he would never make it, so all Sora could do at that point was shout, "Xion, get out of the way!"

Xion made the mistake of stopping when she heard Sora call out her name, and when the rest of his declaration registered in her mind, she immediately looked up just in time for the spell holding the bus up to finally give out and begin dropping the massive vehicle from the air. At that moment, Xion just froze in place, a sense of panic having overridden all other instinct and feeling in her, right to the point where she ended up just ducking her head down when she was found the ability to move again, bracing herself for the end. Even as all her friends cried out for her, she could not bring herself to move, but thankfully, a last minute save came just in the nick of time.

Just seconds before the bus could touch her, Xion felt a strong arm quickly grab her around the middle, pulling her off her feet and away to safety. Instead of falling to the ground afterwards though, Xion felt the wind blowing across her face like she was flying through the air, while a strange sound could be heard going off every so often as she was carried away from danger. She was a little worried that when she opened her eyes, she would discover that one of those new Heartless had actually grabbed her in preparation to slam her into a building, until she heard a new, cheerful voice speaking that she could only remember hearing at one point before in her life: in her dreams about Sora's past adventures.

"Whoa, talk about safety hazards. They should really have a warning sign out here for these types of situations. Something like, I don't know, 'Caution: falling debris, dangerous monsters, and big, dumb walking insults to animals ahead,'" Xion's rescuer joked.

If the rest of the team had not been facing Xion when at the time, they definitely would have turned towards her position when they heard that voice, because aside from Roxas, they all recognized it as the voice of an old friend that they had not seen since their last journey a year ago. "Hey, is that who I think it is," Goofy asked.

"How many other palookas do you know of that wear an outfit like that and swing around on a web," Donald questioned in return.

"No way," Ventus whispered with a grin.

"So this is _his_ world," Sora cheered happily.

When the sensation of rushing wind finally ceased, Xion finally opened her eyes to face her rescuer, and was left just as amazed as the others. A rather appropriate feeling, given one of the adjectives that people of this world used to describe her rescuer, because as it turned out, the man who had just pulled her out of danger was none other than Sora's very first summon. Even if he had not spoke up, Xion would have very easily recognized that red and blue suit with a web pattern running along the red portions, with a small, black spider emblem on his chest, and red mask with large, white eyes. "Spider-Man," Xion gasped in awe.

"The one and only, at your service," the amazing, friendly neighborhood Spider-Man answered with pride. "Welcome to New York."

* * *

 **Aqua's Journal Entry 3:**

 **It's actually kind of amazing to see all of these worlds that Riku's been to; even it wasn't for the noblest of purposes at the time. Well, not entirely noble, anyway. I get that he wanted to try and save Kairi, but allying with darkness alone, never mind Maleficent was definitely not the right way to do it. I'm don't have to tell him that, but I can't help but wonder whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, since Riku's really beating himself up over it. More importantly though, as we kept going up, I could swear that I've been sensing someone else was here with us, battling against our current hosts, and just recently, one or two of those people just disappeared. That must mean that they were beaten, but I can't really be sure until after we've gotten out of the basement levels.**

 **What really frightens me though is the encounter that we just had a moment ago with a man calling himself Lexaeus. He was a very powerful warrior to be certain, and his strength only grew with every passing second of our battle, but the part that concerns me is that he looks and sounds just like someone I had met once on Radiant Garden. Come to think of it, from what I can sense, there are a few people here that feel familiar to such people. Just what had happened on that world while I was trapped in the Realm of Darkness for all these years, and how did they end up becoming these "Nobodies" as Riku says that they call themselves? I just have so many questions and not nearly enough answers. Thankfully, it looks like I was able to get some pretty quickly.**

 **Despite all of our efforts, Lexaeus nearly defeated us, and it was not until Riku's darkness suddenly overtook him that axe-sword wielder finally fell, but from what I could tell, it was not really Riku's darkness controlling him. It was his: Xehanort's, or more accurately, Xehanort's Heartless. He had come to try and destroy me as well, and probably would have if Mickey had not arrived to save me and free Riku just in time. Now, all three of us are here together, and it seems that Riku is especially happy to have another friend here with him on this mission of his. Hopefully that means that we'll be able to get out of here and drive these Nobodies out a little sooner, but I can't shake the feeling that we're not even close to being through the worst of things.**

* * *

 _ **AN: Okay, let's review what happened here that remained the same. Axel appeared on Destiny Islands, acting like he was going to kidnap Kairi, Pluto showed up and lead her through a Dark Corridor to Twilight Town, Kairi met Hayner, Pence, and Olette. Now, the stuff that changed: Axel didn't just use Dusks, but instead, was primarily using the Assassin Nobodies. It makes sense since they were supposed to be his direct underlings, so it makes you wonder why he didn't use them in the canon story. Perhaps they wanted to keep it simple and not over complicate things with the cutscene? I don't know, and it doesn't matter at this point. Another change: Aqua's presence. That one's pretty obvious and self-explanatory, so no need to go into detail there. Third change, Kairi doesn't seem to cower away or like she's willing to entertain the idea that Axel's being honest for very long, and actually attacks some of the Nobodies that had her surrounded before she went through the portal.**_

 _ **And finally, let's not forget the biggest change: Kairi didn't get kidnapped after she arrived in Twilight Town! Did you really think I was going to let that happen this time around? If you did, then you clearly haven't been paying attention to this series so far. Not only that, but we got to see Aqua and Kairi show off their battle skills, while showcasing a little bit of how much Kairi has improved since the last story. Plus, Axel seemed to relay a little bit of intel to Kairi and Aqua before he left them in Twilight Town, while the girls also had a little chat with, you guessed it Saix. A part of me did actually want them to fight him, but at that point, I felt that it would just be overdoing things. Oh, and for those of you who were hoping that one of them would put Seifer in his place back there, don't worry, that will happen, and I'll try to find a way to work that moment into the story, or at least mention it happening. And look at that, it looks like Kairi's a little ahead of Sora, Roxas, and Xion when it comes to certain abilities, namely the D-Link. Then again, she has been training with Aqua for the last year while those other three have only just started/resumed their training with Ven.**_

 _ **Axel: Not to mention we also got to see me and Namine a little more, and I'm thinking that it probably gave you guys a pretty good laugh while giving out some important info for everyone.**_

 _ **AN: Also true. Yeah, I felt that scene between Namine and Axel was necessary, because to be honest, we really don't see that much of Namine in KH2, despite how big of a help she was to everyone in that game, and I want to give her as much screen time as I can while it's still possible. Does that mean we'll see Namine again some time in the future? Well, we'll just have to wait and see, now won't we?**_

 _ **Sora: And then we wrapped up by revealing where me and the others went next, and it turned out to be none other than the world of Marvel!**_

 _ **AN: Yeah, I had a feeling you would say that. I'll admit, some of the dialogue used here was similar to what was used when Sora and the gang visited San Fransokyo in KH3, but only because it works so well. Oh, and yeah, I had Donald and Goofy turn human for this world. Obviously they couldn't appear as they were since it was confirmed that they are cartoon characters on this world, so they have to be given some way to better blend in. And yeah, that did extend to Donald's voice being changed. If you need a better idea, just look up a YouTube video about Donald's voice in the new Ducktales series.**_

 _ **Finally, sorry for those of you who were expecting Olympus Coliseum, but to be honest, I'm a little surprised how many of you did not guess that the Marvel world would be where they ended up next. Well, if you really needed further proof, then the fact that Rhino was rampaging in the streets and Spider-Man came swooping in to save Xion was definitely it.**_

 _ **Roxas: Hey, how about we mention the fact that I now have a couple new additions to my Keychain collection.**_

 _ **AN: Oh, right. Yeah, Roxas has got a couple new Keychains now. I mean, it only seemed fair since Sora already has a bunch of his own Keychains, Ven has a big collection of his own, and Xion has already gotten two more Keychains, counting when she got Midnight Roar from her Valor Form. So now the twins each have one Keychain that they obtained during their days with the Organization and that you can get in KH2. Don't worry though, Sora's going to get a new Keychain soon, too, and Kairi will get a few new ones as well, so they won't be getting left out on that.**_

 _ **Now then, hope you guys are ready for more marvels, because the next chapter is definitely going to have plenty of them and then some, as if that wasn't already clear. For more information, let's head Onto the Preview!...**_

 ** _Spider-Man is here! And the team's over the moon with excitement at the chance to team-up with him again, but that's nothing compared to who they end up working with to really stop the Heartless rampaging alongside of Rhino. This world's mightiest heroes are facing a little problem of their own, and they're definitely looking for any and all help they can get in stopping the Heartless. Good thing that there's a new team of heroes in New York to help out, or should we say a new_** **legion _, but just what is it that the villains of this world plan to do with the aid of the Heartless, and just how grave a threat could be unleashed unless all the heroes assemble as one? An entire world of marvels awaits our brave adventurers, next time._**

 ** _Yeah, it's not just Spidey we'll be seeing here, but a few other Marvel heroes as well, and I'm sure you've all already guessed which ones they'll be from that. Can't wait for that, can we? Well, until next time..._**

 ** _Please read and review, and see ya real soon!_**


	14. Assembling With Marvels

**_AN: Hello everyone! And welcome back to another heart-pounding chapter in the adventures of the Keyblade Legion!_**

 ** _Sora: Um, I don't think we've officially been given that name yet._**

 ** _AN: I wouldn't worry about that for much longer. Anyways, it's been a few months or so since we last updated this chapter, mainly because I've had a lot of Spider-Man stuff on my mind, and that forced me to focus more on the story behind Hearts of Avengers and A Spider's Focus, plus I also started up my first RWBY story, or rather, RWBY one-shot series, RWBY Meetings. If you haven't gone over to check that out yet, please do so when you get the chance. Either way, we're now back again with another update to the Keyblade Legion story, and just in time to see our favorite adventurers dive into all the marvels of the Marvel Universe!_**

 ** _Spidey: I can't wait to show you guys what my world's like in this story._**

 ** _Roxas: Yeah, we've been waiting quite a while to see how similar or different it is in this story compared to the version in Hearts of Avengers._**

 ** _AN: Admit it, Roxas. You're mainly excited for the fact that you get to finally appear in any kind of Marvel world since it won't be until the second story in the Kingdom Marvels series that you get to do so._**

 ** _Xion: Actually, that would apply to me and a lot of the rest of us as well. Especially in the case of anyone in the Organization, loyal member or not, considering what you have planned for us in that series._**

 ** _AN: [sighs] Fair enough. Well, before we run the risk of someone giving away a spoiler for this or any other story, let's answer some reviews and get into things._**

 ** _Starting things off with a response to "CT7567Rules", I didn't forget about your review, it just didn't seem like there was anything I could say in response to it. That does happen sometimes, but I am glad to see that you're still enjoying the story so far._**

 ** _Next up, to "DragonMack", I am still brainstorming on ideas for various Keyblade transformations that the other Guardians of Light could have, mainly because I don't want them all to be some variation of the ones we saw in canon, but don't worry, we will see plenty of those when we reach that point of the series._**

 ** _Rolling it over to "theCesar09", well...we've seen one thing that Sora and Kairi do when they're not doing the script (look back to chapters when they were still raving mad about a certain event in KH3 if you need the example), but otherwise, there's a large variety of things that they do. A lot of it is pretty simple, harmless stuff, but there are some things that tend to be a little...crazy, and probably go overboard. I'll probably expand on that in the Keyblades Unleashed Series Extras short-story series that I'm doing on the side later on._**

 ** _"rmarcano321", yes, Kairi will have a slight change to her KH2 outfit, but at the moment, the only change that Aqua's outfit will see in this story is that she ditches the Organization coat in favor of her usual canon attire. But if you mean changes later on in other stories, then yeah, I do intend to try and give a good number of characters a change to their appearances, be it ones that they got in the canon story line, or something a little more original, the latter being in cases like Xion, Aqua, and Ventus, since they're the ones who've had the same outfits since they were first introduced. Still, you'll have to wait for a specific story to see those changes, unless it involves Drive Forms being used._**

 ** _"Dragon Rider 66", first off, I wouldn't say that there's something wrong with me. It was really more of a matter of being so deep in shock and awe at all the overall epicness that was put on display throughout the movie that by the time it reached points where you would be expecting someone to cry, I was just unable too. Shock-overload made me crash. As for which version of Marvel this will be, you'll have to find out from the chapter today, but I will give a little more explanation about it in the ending note, in case it's still unclear by then._**

 ** _Sora: Oh, hey, "relena soulheart", to answer your question to all of us about which Avenger/Marvel hero is our favorites, mine is definitely either Spider-Man or Captain America._**

 ** _AN: Same here. Spidey and mah boy Cap all the way!_**

 ** _Riku: Hmm...I would have to say Iron Man. He does his best to be a hero, but doesn't always make choices that his friends really agree with, or would fully understand at the time. Plus, he's got a cool super armor, is a mega genius, and ladies love him._**

 ** _Kairi: I'd say my favorite's the Wasp, namely Janet Van Dyne, the one from Avengers EMH. She's really cool._**

 ** _Xion: My favorite would have to be either Scarlet Witch or Black Widow. They're both awesome bad asses with checkered pasts, but they're doing their bests to make up for it by being heroes. Plus, did you see how Wanda was dominating Thanos is Endgame?! If the guy hadn't ordered his ship to start blasting everything on the ground, she totally would've beaten him all on her own._**

 ** _Roxas: Thor's my favorite. He's got great hair, he's the prince of Asgard, and then there's the fact that he was wielding both Mjolnir and Stormbreaker in Endgame like how I often use both Oathkeeper and Oblivion. Plus, he's also really funny._**

 ** _Axel: Mine's Human Torch. Need I really explain why?_**

 ** _Ventus: I'm with Sora and lyoko on Spider-Man being one of my favorites, but I would also have to add in Quicksilver, mainly because he uses speed to fight bad guys like I do._**

 ** _Terra: My favorite would definitely be Hulk. I can relate to his struggles so much._**

 ** _Aqua: Captain Marvel, or Ms. Marvel, whichever identity you prefer Carol Danvers to assume. I think she and I have a lot in common with one another, especially after seeing her movie earlier this year._**

 ** _Namine: Hmm...I've never really thought about it, but if I had to pick...I would have to say...Maybe Jean Grey. You know, when she's not the Dark Phoenix. Or Shuri. Despite the fact that she isn't always front line with her brother Black Panther, she's always a big, important part of what keeps him alive when he's out there. Plus, she was Black Panther herself at one point._**

 ** _AN: Okay, moving on from all of that. "Anonymaton", yes, Riku's taken that tumble, and managed to struggle back out again._**

 ** _Next, "Monkey D. Conan", I'm afraid I can only answer one of your questions today, as the rest would just give away huge spoilers. San Fransokyo will actually be an entirely separate world here, mainly because I've never seen or heard of anything beyond fanfictions where Big Hero Six teams up with Spidey or any other Marvel hero. Maybe its another dimension thing or something, maybe it isn't, but for now, that is the plan that I'm going with._**

 ** _"CG", your question to the KH cast about who they would like to play them in a live-action series has actually gotten them all really thinking hard, right to the point where they still haven't figured it out yet. They're going to have to get back to you on that later. As for the idea of attempting the "live-action" series idea, I may consider it, but it will be a very long time before it happens._**

 ** _To the "Guest" who posted on 6/2/2019, asking about if Roxas and/or Sora ever asked Ven about helping them get physically stronger, I don't think they've ever really considered it, given that the Keyblade stuff is a lot more important at the time. They may be teenage boys, but given the situation that they're in, they have managed to outgrow that phase pretty quickly, assuming they had ever gotten into it in the first place._**

 ** _Aqua: "Guest" of 6/4/2019, I'd say that our bond by this point, at least in this series, would be akin to that of sisters, in my opinion. We still maintain a very close student-teacher relationship, but beyond that, we're a lot like big sister and little sister._**

 ** _Kairi: Yeah, you know, like Anna and Elsa in a way. Though how much talking we've done about Aqua's relationship with Ven is a matter that I can't really discuss right now. You'll have to wait and see about that._**

 ** _"TheVoidHunter250", I'm afraid that Ventus won't be getting rid of the beard, at least not completely, but it will get trimmed down quite a bit later on. It'll be a while, but it will happen._**

 ** _Riku: Hey, "Guest" of 6/10/2019, namely the one who inquired about why mine, Vanitas, and Xehanort's battle stances are so simliar...I'm not sure actually. I think it's probably just because we all just have a similar fighting style, at least in a basic sense. You don't have to be related to someone for them to use the same or similar fighting style after all._**

 ** _AN: Yes, well, back on track, since at least one of you asked what the KH cast's thoughts are on the KH3: ReMIND DLC trailer, I made it a point to collect all their opinions and shorten it so that we could save time, in the event that this opening note dragged on for as long as it already has. Simply put, most of them think it could be interesting, given that it does look like there are going to be new features that allow you to play as some of them, along with a few new story details, plus the fact that we're finally gonna get Oathkeeper as a Keychain again, from the look of things, but beyond that, they all feel as though it's a little early to say anything for sure at this time._**

 ** _To the "Guest"s who proposed different theories on why Kairi's still a Princess of Heart, I think both ideas are very likely, but the only way we'll ever know for certain is to see what happens later on. Me personally, I'm still on the fence about which of those two ideas is more likely. Then again, if the idea of Kairi inheriting the power because it's passed down through her family is true, then I guess that would explain why so many future fanfictions set things up so that Sora and Kairi have a daughter after they finally get together and tie the knot._**

 ** _To the "Guest" of 7/19/2019, anything regarding the Absent Silhouette fights will be revealed when we finally reach one of them, and whether or not they talk will more than likely depend on the Silhouette. You'll just have to wait and see in regards to anything else about that._**

 ** _Finally, the "Guest" of 8/6/2019, honestly, I kinda feel like Scar ending up with his scar because he tried to challenge Mufasa in the past is a much more sound theory than the snake bite thing. I mean, yeah, I can see a snake bite giving someone a scar, but the one Scar has just seems way too much like one that you would get from getting scratched by a lion's claw to me. Not to mention the whole "soul being poisoned thing" just seems a little too out there for me._**

 ** _In a general response to everyone wondering about events that would take place in Aqua and Ven's reunion, I'm keeping all cards on that matter close to the chest as of this moment, because explaining anything more about that than I already have in previous chapters' notes would start leading into spoiler territory._**

 ** _Okay, that's everything I wanted to address, so let's get back to the adventures of the Keyblades Unleashed Series! Banzai!_**

 ** _I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story._**

* * *

 **Chapter XIV**

When the team had come up to the newest world in their travels, they had not really thought too much of the sprawling metropolis that seemed to extend outwards into various other different reaches, even after Jiminy had announced that it was named Marvel Universe. Sure, they had assumed that it was like multiple different worlds in one, a phenomenon that Ventus had described to them once a while back, but none of them really figured that the name of this world could possibly hold a great deal of significance. That mindset did not change even after they had landed in the city that seemed to be the center point for this world, even through all of the excitement regarding Donald and Goofy's form changes, the change in Donald's voice, and Sora's general, somewhat childish glee of being in a place like this massive city. After seeing an old friend who had just rescued Xion though, and thinking back to one of the conversations that he and Ven once had with said friend, Sora could admit that they probably should have realized where they had ended up a little bit sooner just from the world's name alone.

Speaking of said friend, Spidey was not really thinking too much about the black haired girl he had just saved, believing her to be just another civilian that had been in danger, and was about to return to the fight while advising her to get to safety, when Xion noticed some more Heartless had just formed behind him. "Look out," Xion shouted as she pushed the web-swinger aside, summoning her Keyblade as she did so that she could quickly dispense with the Heartless.

Spider-Man was a little upset by how the girl had just shoved him like that, until he noticed the remaining Heartless that she had just engaged, and the weapon that she was fighting them with. "What the heck," Spider-Man gasped. "That looks a lot like…"

"My friends and I can handle the Heartless if you can take care of that animal tearing up the city," Xion unknowingly interrupted as she stood at the ready.

"Uh…right. No problem. Thanks," Spider-Man nodded in agreement before he quickly started moving to engage Rhino. He did not really want to leave Xion to fight the Heartless alone, but he would be lying if he were to say that he was not happy to have someone else deal with those things after what happened the last time he faced them on his own.

Seeing Spider-Man swing past them while Xion commenced attacking more Heartless, Ventus took a moment to better study the area, and saw that Heartless were not slowing down by much. Realizing this, Ven felt that it was high time that they all got serious and shouted to his three apprentices, "Sora, Roxas, Xion! Armor up now!"

The three all nodded in response, and they quickly slammed their respective armor pieces at once along with Ven. In a flash of light, the four Keybearers were soon clad in their respective Keyblade armors, and while Ven's had not changed at all from what it was the last time that Sora had seen the suit, he did note that his armor did seem to have changed a little bit since he had last used it. No longer was his armor sporting the very basic appearance it once had, but now, it had seen the addition of some new, more pronounced padding, similar in style to the armor plating on Ven's armor. Unlike the plates on Ven's armor though, Sora's was more rounded and smooth with not a single sharp point or edge to be seen. Another difference was that Sora's helmet had the beginnings of brown prongs forming on either side of his helmet, though for the moment, they were much more flattened against the sides, and did not extend out beyond the helmet's edges. If anything, they looked almost like earpieces on Sora's head. The other big difference, of course, was the coloration of Sora's armor, which was still mostly black and red, but one could also see a silver crown symbol now adorned his chest plate, giving it a little more personalization to show who its wearer was.

Looking over to Roxas and Xion, the others all took notice of how the two were now sporting their own versions of the basic armor that Sora had worn before, only in the respective colors of their gauntlets, and they also included the symbols that could have been seen in the dials on said gauntlets. Roxas's full armor sported a silver and black coloration, while also showing off the pointed cross on his chest plate, while Xion's was mostly sea-green and light blue, and sported her pinkish-red version of the Nobody Sigil, and from what everyone else could tell, the two were very impressed with their new armors, even if they were not as fancy as Sora and Ven's. Before they got too lost in the admiration of their new looks, the group quickly turned their attention back to the Heartless that were still flying around the area and got back to work in dealing with said enemies, allowing Donald and Goofy a chance to breathe easy again, and turn their attention to keeping civilians clear of danger.

From that point onwards, the four Keybearers were tearing through the Heartless like there was no tomorrow, be it through basic slashing attacks of their Keyblades, blasting them with various different spells and magic, or even with special attacks like Sora's Reflect Raid and Ven's Wind Raid. The Heartless stood little chance against such an onslaught, but the dwellers of darkness were nothing if not persistent in their attempts to bring down the defenders of the light. They constantly tried to retaliate in whatever way that they could, be it through slashing at them with their claws or the energy wing-blades, or just ramming into one of the adventurers as hard as they could, but no matter what the Heartless tried, it was all for naught, as the Keybearers were soon hitting back, even when they did get knocked down for a moment.

Eventually, Ventus decided that it was high time to end things, and prepared to power up either one of his Unique Command Style or a Shotlock, but Sora quickly beat him to it by firing off a round of Typhoon Barrage, followed almost instantly by Radiant Blade. Between those two powerful attacks, Sora was able to shave the number of Heartless down from being a near army to just barely more than handful, making things all the more easier for the rest of their group to finish off their long-time foes. Roxas easily sliced up two Heartless on his own, one with each of his Keyblades, while Xion managed to blast a third one just as it attempted to pounce on her brother. She then spun around and cut down the fourth of the remaining Heartless with Two Become One before tossing it as hard as she could through the fifth. Ventus saw to the destruction of the last few through the use of his Salvation attack ability, and like that, all Heartless in the area were destroyed.

With the Heartless no longer a problem, the group prepared to go help Spider-Man deal with Rhino, but upon turning around, they saw that it was no longer necessary, as Spidey was just delivering the coup-de-grace to his long-time arch-foe. The web-head had easily blinded Rhino through the use of his trademarked webbing, and was now wearing the big guy down by ramming him into various tough structures while bashing Rhino in the head as hard as he could. Eventually, Rhino did manage to scrape the webbing off his eyes, but by that point, he had failed to realize that Spider-Man had forced him into a pit of wet cement, where he was now stuck. Rhino tried to force his way out by punching the ground, only to realize too late that the ground he was punching at was more of the wet cement, and just when he was about to try punching at something more solid with his free hand, he found tied to his body with a massive amount of thick webbing, courtesy of Spider-Man.

"You know, I've always thought that you needed to just stop and stick around in one place for a little while, Aleksei. Your always so angry that it really made me wonder if you ever just took a moment to breathe a little," Spider-Man quipped as he landed in a crouch on one of the support beams that was above Rhino.

"I hate you. So much, pauk," Rhino snarled in a Russian Accent.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Spider-Man shrugged before shooting off a web-line and swinging away with several people cheering loudly for him as he swung past.

Not wanting to lose track of the only person that they knew on this world, Sora and the rest of his group all quickly took off after Spider-Man at a run. When they realized that they were not likely going to be able to catch up with him on foot, Sora and Ven both summoned their Keyblade Gliders, and took off after him on said vehicles once the others had all climbed aboard. Eventually, they came to realize that Spider-Man must have noticed them following him, as he soon came to land in a crouch on one of the rooftops that were much farther away from the scene of the fight, and then turned to face them as they landed on the same rooftop.

"You know, when I woke up this morning, the last thing I was expecting was to run into any of the Heartless again, but then again, it's not like the universe has ever wanted to be nice and give me what I want," Spider-Man quipped as the group approached him, dismissing their armors in a flash of light. "Although, I will admit that if there is a good side to all of this, it would definitely be the fact that you guys are here too."

"Great to see you again too, Spider-Man," Sora commented with a smile. "We really missed you."

"Missed you too, Sora. Up top," Spidey cheered, raising his hand up for a high-five that Sora happily granted. "By the way, I love your new outfit. Now _that_ is definitely a way better look for a fellow hero than that jumpsuit you were wearing before, and the new insta-armor is making me so jealous."

"Thanks," Sora grinned in return, posing proudly with his hands on his hips as if to show off his outfit better.

"I hope you didn't forget about the rest of us," Ventus teased the web-head.

"How could I forget any of you? It's not like you made it hard to leave an impression after our first meeting alone," Spider-Man pointed out as he shook hands with the master. "Besides, it does help that you look like you haven't changed a bit, Ven. You know, aside from…"

"The beard? Yeah, I know," Ventus sighed.

"I mean, it's a good look for you. Got that Thor-beard style going, but maybe if you trimmed it down a little, go for something more like a goatee, then it would definitely be a great look," Spider-Man hurriedly reassured his friend, worried that he might have offended the blonde. When Ventus said nothing in response, Spider-Man quickly glanced around for a way to change the subject, and easily found just the thing for the job. "So who're the new guys? I don't think I remember any of them being with you all before, least of all your little brother, Ven."

"I'm not his brother, or related to him in any other way," Roxas corrected.

"Wait, what?" Spider-Man could not help but look between the two blondes in silence for a few seconds, before he finally spoke up again. "But you look so much alike."

"So everyone keeps telling us," Roxas grumbled a little. He put his frustrations on the matter aside though, not wanting to be impolite to another old friend of the team's, and gave the web-head a smile when he properly introduced himself and the other newest member of the group. "Anyways, I'm Roxas, and this is my twin sister, Xion."

"Nice to officially meet you," the girl waved in greeting.

"The pleasure's all mine," Spider-Man bowed in a jokingly proper accent that got a few giggles from Xion, Sora, and Roxas. He then looked to the final two members of the group and asked, "And you guys are…?"

"Ahyuck. Hiya Spidey," Goofy greeted jovially. He had a feeling that he and Donald would not be so easily recognized in their current forms, so he just had to go for a greeting that he knew would clue in the web-head.

"What the…?! Goofy?"

"That's me," Goofy confirmed with his signature laugh to emphasize the point.

"Wow. You know, part of me always wondered how you'd look if you were a little more human," Spider-Man admitted. "No offense."

"None taken for either of us," Donald reassured him.

That made Spider-Man pause again, because he was so sure that the man in a sailor suit was likely Donald, but he could not help but dismiss the idea when he heard him speak in a clear, normal-sounding voice. "Uh…And you would be?"

"Who do ya think? I'm Donald. Donald Duck," the wizard affirmed.

"Really? You don't sound like Donald," Spider-Man pointed out.

"Yeah, we noticed that too," Sora revealed. "Apparently his form change for this world included a change in his voice as well."

"Seriously? Wait, if you guys can change your appearance like this, how come whenever I saw you guys on other worlds, they almost always looked a lot like they normally did, save for one or two differences in some cases," Spider-Man asked as he recalled all of the times that Sora had used his summon charm in the last journey they shared.

"Well…uh…" Donald pondered aloud.

"I guess it just wasn't as necessary for us or somethin'. After all, when we first met, you mentioned that me, Donald, and all our pals were pretty famous here on your world, right," Goofy reasoned for his friend.

Spider-Man could only nod in return, since he was unable to come up with another explanation for the matter, and decided to just move along with the conversation. "So, after seeing the reinforcements that old horn-head had back there, I'm guessing this isn't just a social visit, is it?"

"Afraid not," Ventus confirmed. "But the Heartless aren't the only problem out there now, Spidey, and we could use an extra hand while we're here. Think you can help out."

"Please. Do you really think I'm going to say no," Spider-Man questioned, giving the blonde a look that could be felt even through his mask. "Helping out other people just because is what I do best, and that especially goes for friends like you guys."

Hearing that, Ventus could not help but laugh in response, having now realized how silly it was to laugh. After all, given all of their past interactions with the wall-crawler, it should have been no surprise that Spidey would want to help them out. The guy was just like Sora in that regard. "Guess I forgot who we're dealing with for a minute," Ventus shrugged.

"You mean like how Leon did when he asked us to help him and his friends out back on Hollow Bastion," Xion teased.

Roxas and the others could only smile at the faint blush of embarrassment that began seeping onto Ven's face, but eventually, the younger blonde did bring up another topic that he felt they should ask about. "Say Spider-Man? Is this the first time you've seen the Heartless since your days of helping out Sora and the others?"

"Now that you mention it, no, it's not," Spider-Man revealed. "The first time anyone around here saw more of those things was a few months back. Almost half a year ago now, actually. It was the weirdest thing though. One minute they were popping up again out of nowhere, and giving a lot of us heroes a hard time, and then the next thing we know, they all took off for somewhere else and became pretty scarce. After that, they only appeared every now and then, and by that point, we were able to handle them pretty well for the most part, or at least as best as we could without those fancy swords of yours. It was only just recently that they started showing up like that again."

Catching on to why Roxas was asking about that, Xion quickly asked, "Did you ever happen to see anyone wearing a black coat when the number of Heartless started to dwindle? Maybe someone who might have looked a little like me or Roxas?"

That made the web-head pause and cross his arms in thought for a few seconds, before he finally said, "Sorry, but I can't remember ever seeing anyone like that, or at least not anyone who stands out in that way. I mean, this is New York City. There are a lot people around here that would fit just about any type of description under the sun, right to the point where they would have to go to a pretty big extreme to really stand out. You know, like me, or any other superhero that lives here."

"Well what about Riku or the king? Or maybe even a woman with blue hair? Have you seen any of them," Sora then asked feeling that they needed to know about that as well. After all, a big reason why they were traveling to other worlds right now was also to find their friends that were still MIA.

"Sorry, but no dice there either," Spider-Man replied. "Plus, I'm pretty sure I would remember if I ever ran across the real Mickey Mouse as opposed to someone who was just dressed up to look like him. Although, in terms of people with blue hair…well, I have seen a few people who have dyed their hair in various different shades of that color."

"Yeah, the woman we're looking for has naturally blue hair," Ventus revealed.

"In that case, also a no-go. Sorry."

Sora just shrugged as he muttered, "Well, can't say we didn't at least try."

At that point, silence seemed to hang heavily among the group, and Spidey could not help but feel like he was letting down the friends he had just promised to help. Being the friendly neighborhood hero that he is, Spider-Man could not let that stand, and he felt obligated to at least try and explore every route possible to help out his friends. The only problem was that he could not really think of too many ways that he could help them out, at least not beyond the ones that would likely take forever to run with, and he knew that these guys could not stay here for very long before they would have to move on again. Thinking over the various ideas in his head a little more, Spider-Man was just about ready to give up until he finally thought of one option that they could try.

"You know, I may not have seen any of your friends, or have a lot info to help you guys out, but I do know some guys that might," Spider-Man informed them.

"Really," Sora asked, starting to get a little more excited at that prospect.

"Hey, we won't know until we try, right," Spider-Man pointed out. He then shot off a web-line and prepared to swing away as he called out, "Come on. Follow me and I'll take you to see them."

"Right behind you, Spidey," Sora cheered, summoning out his Keyblade Glider again. He then looked over to the others and said, "Hop aboard, Donald, Roxas."

"You've got it," Roxas agreed, jumping onto the back of Sora's flying motorbike with the wizard after he had spoken.

Seeing as they were likely going through with the idea, Ventus just shrugged and summoned out his own glider and hopped onto it as well, motioning for Xion and Goofy to climb aboard. With everyone situated, the group quickly took off after their web-swinging friend, each of them hoping to some extent that whoever Spider-Man was taking them to see would be able to help a little with their quest.

* * *

Keeping up with Spider-Man was not too difficult thanks to the Keyblade Gliders, but the team did have to find alternative routes every now and then since they could not follow the exact same path as the web-swinger; namely the tight, narrow spaces between a few buildings and other similar locations that Spider-Man was only able to slip through due to his enhanced agility and slim size. Luckily any detours they took did not put them too far off course from Spidey's path, and soon enough, they had all arrived at their destination: a large tower that stood proudly over the rest of the city. Touching down on the landing pad at the top of said tower, the group all dismounted their respective rides, allowing Sora and Ven to dismiss their Keyblade Gliders, and prepared to head inside.

Just as they were approaching the door, Spider-Man stopped short and turned to face the group. "Okay, listen guys, I know I probably shouldn't have, but after our world was restored, I may have let it slip to these guys about what had happened, along with everything else I knew about all of you, and some of them…well, most of them…okay they were all more than a little skeptical, so you might want to brace yourselves for a fair bit of questioning," the crime fighter revealed to his friends. "It's nothing personal, really, but to them, a lot of stuff about you, namely the fact that two of you are just fictional characters on this world, makes it more than a little hard to believe your story. In fact, some of them are not entirely accepting of the existence of magic, but that's mainly because of the whole major scientist thing where they insist that magic is just a science that we don't understand yet, so don't take that too hard."

"Gotcha," Sora nodded, glad that Spidey had warned them about this ahead of time. None of them wanted Donald's temper to get their group into trouble because one of these people had said something that he took issue with.

"Okay, and a few other things," Spider-Man added on. "One, try not to touch anything if you don't know how it works. Or anything that looks really expensive, which is probably a vast majority of the stuff in there. And don't do anything to make the big guy angry. Trust me; you will not like it when he's angry, least of all when he's angry with you." There was a brief silence after that before the web-head added another detail. "Oh, and try not to stare at anyone too much. Some of them may take it the wrong way, and well…"

"Spidey, relax. If these guys are anything like you, I'm sure we'll be fine," Ventus reassured their old friend.

"Well, I wouldn't say that they're all that much like me. I mean, they are superheroes, and they fight for truth, justice, and all that, but these guys are like the big leagues, and I only just recently became a member of the team, so I don't want them to think I'm just letting any random person into the headquarters. Or that I'm doing anything that I shouldn't be doing or that would give them a bad impression," Spider-Man explained.

"Don't worry. We'll be on our best behavior," Roxas promised.

"Well, most of us will be. I don't think we can really say the same for Donald. Or Roxas for that matter," Xion joked in extension.

"Hey, what do you mean by that," Donald demanded with a growl that actually sounded intimidating with his altered voice.

"N-nothing! Nothing at all," Xion stuttered as she backed away out of nervousness. "Geez, that altered voice of his actually makes him seem a lot scarier when he says stuff like that," she then muttered to her brother, who could only nod in agreement, despite the slight she had just made against him.

"Right. Okay, here we go," Spider-Man breathed in response to the assurances. He then turned back towards the door, and held a card up to the scanning device that was on the wall next to it, and after a minute or so, he looked up and asked, "Hey JARVIS, are you there?"

 _"At your service, as always. Welcome back to Avengers Tower, Spider-Man,"_ a very cultured, British-accented voice replied through the speakers, startling the six who were not familiar with this location or anything else on this world.

"Great. Tell me that the rest of the team's here too, please? I've got some friends here that could really use their help," Spidey continued, not even the least bit thrown off by the talking computer, or his friends' reactions.

 _"Sir, you do recall that unauthorized personnel are not allowed in…"_

"Yeah, I know, but this is really important, and they've got vital information that the team needs to hear," interrupted Spider-Man.

 _"Very well then. I shall inform Mister Stark of your arrival and that of your guests so that he may register their biometric signatures in my database,"_ JARVIS reported. There was a brief silence once again, and the team was about to ask what they were just listening to when the computer voice came back again. _"Spider-Man, Mister Stark wishes to know the exact nature of information your guests have that he does not already possess."_

"It's about those shadow monsters that attacked a year ago and have started popping up again recently, including their more recent appearance out in the city. I'm sure that if the Bugle was covering it, then he must have seen them on the newsfeed. They would be the guys with the fancy swords and armor," Spider-Man explained.

After another bout of silence, the doors slid open as JARVIS said, _"Mister Stark is gathering the team in the conference room now. He wishes for you to lead your guests there as quickly as possible, with minimal detours and distractions."_

"Thanks JARVIS," Spidey nodded in return before waving for his friends from other worlds to follow him. When he noticed that they were not doing so, he easily figured out what the problem was. "Relax, JARVIS is cool. He's just a cool AI that helps run a lot of the systems in the tower."

 _"In short, I am the supercomputer butler, as Mister Parker has put it,"_ JARVIS added, earning him a rapid bit of hushing from the wall-crawler.

The others did not really pay the computer's apparent slip up or Spidey's concern towards it too much mind, as they were just more focused on following him inside this strange place. Not that you could blame them for taking a while to take in their surroundings, because the place was very impressive, to say the least. From where they were standing, it looked like the ultimate in fancy living, just from the one room that they had already stepped into, which they figured was most likely the lounge area, based on the layout of the room, and how there was a central, sitting area, plasma television hanging on one of the far walls, the massive windows that offered an incredible view of the city, and a bar with several different drinks in the room. Add in the fact that it seemed to have two different levels to it, along with how there seemed to be an observation room that was more walled off just a short distance over from the living space, and no one would be surprised if the team was already getting their imaginations running on what else could be in this tower. To them, the place looked like the ultimate setup in designs of penthouse suites.

"Man, our apartment in Twilight Town's got nothing on this place," Roxas muttered to Xion, who could only nod in silent agreement.

"Are you kidding? This place looks even cooler than any of the rooms on the ship," Sora grinned in awe.

Hearing that drew a slightly annoyed look from Ventus as he asked, "Are you saying that I didn't do a good job in designing your room on the _Kingdom-A_ when I practically rebuilt our old ship from scratch?"

Sora froze a little at that question, and was soon starting to stutter out an excuse or two for what he had said, while Donald and Goofy both snickered at his predicament. Roxas and Xion probably would have done something to help him, but they were a little busy trying to keep themselves from laughing at Sora's misfortune like the other two were at the moment. Thankfully, Sora managed to find a way to distract everyone from the matter at hand when he finally looked to Spider-Man again and thought of something else. "So, Spidey, do you live here or something," Sora questioned, hoping that would divert Ven's ire for a little while.

Ventus could not help but smirk a little, having gotten more than a fair share of enjoyment out of making Sora squirm a little with that joke of his, but he would admit that he was just as curious about the topic his first apprentice brought up as Sora was. Apparently the others were also thinking the same thing, since they had all now turned their attention to Spidey, who was currently rubbing the back of his neck in a sheepish manner. "Well…Kinda, but not really," Spider-Man admitted. "I mean, I have a room here that I use every now and then, but I don't live here, live here like most of the team does. I have my own place in the city, and I really just come by here every so often when I feel too tired to get all the way back home or something, or when I need to use one of the labs here, like for making more web-fluid."

"And as I recall, you've been doing that quite a bit recently. It's starting to make some of us wonder if you still have that day job of yours anymore with how often you've been dropping in just for that lately," a new voice interrupted, and the group all turned to see a lanky-looking man with brown hair and glasses had come into the room right at that moment.

"Hey, Doc! On your way to the conference room," Spider-Man greeted.

"Yeah, I'm a little behind the others in that regard, but I had to get to a good stopping place in the experiment I was working on. Something tells me no one would've been too happy if the top three or five floors of the tower suddenly combusted," the man shrugged as he shook hands with Spidey. He then looked to the six visitors and asked, "So, these the friends that Tony mentioned you were bringing in?"

"Yep, this is them," Spider-Man confirmed. "I'll save their introductions for later though when everyone's gathered together. No point in repeating everything twice." He then looked to the team and said, "As for you guys, meet Doctor Bruce Banner, the foremost scientific expert in all things Gamma Rays."

"Nice to meet you Doctor Banner," Ventus nodded as he shook hands with the scientist.

"Pleasure's all mine. It's not every day that Spidey actually brings some of his friends here," Banner replied. He then studied the group for a minute before he finally asked, "Are you guys…not freaked out at all?"

"Freaked out by what," Xion asked, while the others just tilted their heads to show their confusion.

"You know…because of the fact that I'm…well, that I turn into the _other guy_ when I'm angry," Bruce elaborated, but he was surprised to see that it was not clearing anything for the six. "You really don't recognize me at all?"

"We're not really from around here," Roxas admitted in response.

Bruce was about to ask about that when Spidey placed a hand on his shoulder and said, "We'll explain that in the meeting as well, which we should really be getting to since Mister Stark said to not take too many detours."

Bruce nodded in response before he took over leading them all into the conference room. Not that it took too long to reach said room, but from what the team could see, it looked like the setup of said room was the only thing in it that could be considered as normal for the most part. The people in the room, seated around the table in the center of it, on the other hand, were a completely different story. On one side of the room, was a man in a black and reddish-purple outfit, with a quiver full of arrows on his back, and a pair of sunglasses with red lenses covering his eyes, and next to him was a red haired woman in a very tight looking black suit that seemed to accentuate her very athletic body. Another thing to note about the redhead was that her suit seemed to have several blue lines running through like almost like circuits in a way, while a pair of gauntlets adorned her wrists. Next to her was a black man with a buzz cut and a slight goatee in a red and black flight suit with a large backpack on his back, and black and red flight goggles strapped around his face.

Sitting on the opposite end of the table to the first three, the team could only see one person who looked close to normal, and that was a black man who was dressed up in a military colonel's uniform. The other person on this man's side of the table was a much different story, given his admittedly impressive looking armor, and long flowing red cape, but when you added in his long, blonde hair and the hammer he held in one hand, the team could not help but think that he was just as otherworldly as they were, even as Bruce moved to sit down next to him. The final two people in the room were standing at the head of the table, and while one of them did look to be rather normal, save for his very expensive-looking suit and how his stance seemed to give off an impression of a man who had a lot going for him, the other was a different story. It was not just the red, white, and blue suit he wore, or the fact that he had a shield on his back that made them think he stood out, though. There was just a certain kind of air about him that radiated with confidence and bravery that would make people want to follow him into the gates of hell themselves. More than that, he seemed to give off a sense of being old fashioned, but in many more good ways than bad. If you were to ask Sora, the man actually made him think of how Ventus could be sometimes, but all in all, this final individual definitely appeared to be someone that should be considered as awesome, and the others seemed to share that opinion as well, given how they were all looking at him with various senses of awe.

The only thing that was more attention grabbing than the people in the room, was the video that they were all currently watching on a holo-screen, mainly because it was a news report about the fight that the Keybearers and their friends had just been in earlier that day. Of course, the things that this group was saying about the whole thing did seem to be rather important too once they started to really listen in. "I'm just saying, it seems stupid to worry about this when its already said and done," the archer insisted. "The kid and those weird rookies handled both Rhino and those shadow monsters, so what's there to worry about?"

"You mean aside from the fact that those creatures have caused problems for us before? Or the fact that they're now apparently working alongside of HYDRA," the redhead sarcastically questioned in a way that indicated she was very close or very used to dealing with the archer.

"More like they're working _for_ HYDRA. From where I'm standing, those things aren't exactly smart enough to really form alliances with people like that. They seem a lot more like animals that need to be tamed or something," the colonel said.

"Either way, we're not exactly that much closer to being able to handle them on our own," the man in the flight suit stepped in before any pointless arguments could break out. "I mean, I'm not the only one who thinks it's a little sad that we need the youngest member of the team to bail us out every time we run into those things, am I?"

"Please. Those creatures are nothing against the might of the son of Odin, or the power of the Hulk," the blonde with the hammer boasted.

"Oh great. So only our biggest guns and the kid can get the better of these things, and let's not forget the fact that Spider-Boy is still insisting that he can only stop them because he teamed up with Mickey Mouse and a couple kids with magic, key-shaped swords," the archer grumbled.

"Actually he said that it was Donald Duck and Goofy, not Mickey Mouse, for one thing," the man in the expensive suit reminded said archer. "Secondly, he might not be too far off, considering that a few of our own magically-gifted allies/team members have shown to be able to better deal with those things than we have."

"So then why not call them in," the redhead asked.

"Doctor Strange is currently unreachable at the moment for reasons we can only guess, and when we reached out to the Fantastic Four, we learned that they were off on another expedition of some kind," the man with the shield revealed, his voice holding a commanding tone that would make you want to either stand at attention or just keep quiet and listen to him as he spoke. "At the moment, we're all that the world's got against these things."

"You know, I really do hate to argue with America's ultimate golden boy, but I do have to disagree with you, Cap, because we now have someone that might be better suited for that," Spider-Man revealed, finally stepping into the conversation so that he could announce the group's arrival to the people that had gathered in the conference room.

While Banner moved to take a seat next to Thor, the others all turned to face Spider-Man and the team, each quietly studying the group that had come in with the web-head for a few moments before the archer finally muttered, "Oh good, it's Spider-Boy and his amazing friends."

"It's Spider- _Man_ , and you know it, Purple Arrow," Spidey almost growled in retort.

The archer looked like he was about to draw an arrow in retaliation for the web-head's comeback, when the redhead woman placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him, letting the nicely dressed man at the head of the table speak up and ask the question they were all wondering. "So just who are these guys that you've brought along with you, kid? They with those experts that you mentioned at the door?"

"Uh…they _are_ the experts, Mister Stark," Spider-Man revealed.

Everyone was silent for a minute, with Xion just offering a small wave in an attempt to break the tension a little, until the colonel finally said, "You can't be serious. A bunch of kids are your experts?"

That got glares from Sora, Roxas, and Xion, while Ventus just rolled his eyes a bit, wondering how he got labeled as a kid when he looked more like his actual age now than he did a year ago. Goofy was even moving closer to Donald in preparation to hold his quick-tempered friend back, just in case, but he relaxed a little more when the group all saw Spider-Man patting his shoulder and wrist as he looked at them. Ventus immediately got the meaning behind the gesture and looked to his three apprentices with a nod as he tapped his shoulder guard. Following Ven's lead, the other three Keybearers all tapped their own armor pieces, and soon enough, the group was clad in their armors once more, bringing a look of recognition to the faces of all those gathered in the room.

"Recognize us now," Ventus playfully questioned.

The colonel could only nod in silent reply, before the man called Cap turned to Spidey and asked, "Who did you say these guys were again?"

"Well, most of them are the guys I told you about before. You know, a year ago, after those monsters first showed up and then suddenly disappeared," Spider-Man replied.

"Are you telling us that crazy story of yours was real," the man in the flight suit asked in disbelief.

"Dude, come on. Would I really tell you guys something that crazy unless it was true," Spider-Man asked.

"You probably don't want us to answer that," the redhead cautioned.

"Okay, that hurts. Really, Widow. How could you betray a fellow spider like that," Spider-Man joked as the Keybearers dismissed their armors. He then got serious again as he asked, "So, does anyone mind if I at least make the necessary introductions before we get much further?" Stark nodded for the web-head to go ahead, and Spidey then turned to the team of other worldly adventurers as he made the introductions, indicating each person in the room behind him as he went. "All right, guys, meet Earth's mightiest heroes. You've already met Doctor Banner, and this is Hawkeye, Black Widow, Falcon, Colonel Rhodes aka War Machine, Thor, Captain America, and Tony Stark, the Iron Man. Put 'em all together and you get the Avengers."

"Cool name," Roxas praised with a slight grin.

Spidey then turned to the Avengers and continued on, saying, "Avengers, this is Sora, Ventus, Roxas, Xion, Donald, and Goofy, the…The uh…" Everyone was a little confused by Spidey's sudden pause until he scooted a little closer to Sora and Ven, and whispered, "Okay, I know this is probably a bad time to ask this, but do you guys have a name for your group or something?"

At first, some of the team felt like shooting the web-head a few looks of disbelief, but that quickly passed when they realized that he was not entirely unjustified in asking them that. Up until now, they had never really thought of a clever name of any kind for their group. Most of the time, they would normally just refer to themselves as "the team" or a group of adventurers, and really, when you looked back over their past experiences, they had never really felt like they needed a name for their group. This was literally the first time that any of them could remember asking them if they had something to call their group. Realizing that needed to change, a good number of their members quickly began brainstorming in an attempt to think of something to call themselves, with Ven, Sora, Roxas, and Donald all crossing their arms in thought, while Xion held a hand to her chin, and Goofy scratched his head like he always would when he was thinking. It may have gotten them some odd looks from the Avengers, but they did not seem to really care about it that much.

They did not need to think too long though, as Sora soon came up with something, and then smiled as he struck what he figured would be a heroic pose as he announced his idea to all. "We're the Keyblade Legion!"

More silence followed Sora's declaration, but this time, it was probably more due to the fact that Sora had struck a rather cheesy pose when he made the announcement. Of course, only the Avengers had kept silent, as Sora's friends and teammates had a few things that they felt they had to say. "Hey, why'd you say that," Donald demanded.

"Sora, you know Donald and I don't have Keyblades," Goofy pointed out.

"Does it really matter that much? I mean, most of our group does," Roxas asked.

"I feel like that name would imply that we're likely to kick Donald and Goofy off the team at some point though, so…" Xion argued, sticking up for the two from Disney Town.

"But we're not. Besides, Master Yen Sid said that we're the beginnings of a legion that would save everyone from anyone threatening it, remember? And like Roxas said, most of our group does have a Keyblade, or two in his case. Why not call ourselves that," Sora asked.

"You have to admit, that name does have a certain ring to it," Ventus shrugged with a smile, casting his own vote of approval. "Besides, I was a little worried that he would try and suggest something like Keyblade Hero Six or something."

"Why would I suggest that? It sounds like a rip-off of someone else's name," Sora questioned.

"Great, so you're the Keyblade Legion. Now how about sharing with the rest of the class what you know about those monsters? Spidey said that you could, so…" Tony asked.

The newly-named Legion got serious once more, with Ventus taking point in the conversation. "They're called the Heartless; creatures that are born from the darkness in people's hearts. Colonel Rhodes actually wasn't far off in his guess about them acting out of animalistic instinct, because that's exactly the case, and their base instinct above all else, is to drown others in darkness so that they can make more Heartless, and eventually, drown the entire world in darkness."

"And we all know what that's like," Spider-Man muttered.

"Our weapons, the Keyblades, as well as a special set of powers that Donald and Goofy possess are the only things that can stop them for good, but there are cases of people who can gain the ability to at least destroy the Heartless for a short time, or even become powerful enough to destroy them for good. Usually though, that's because they've been in contact with a Keyblade wielder or someone with similar powers, like Spider-Man was when he became a summon that Sora could use when we were last journeying to stop the Heartless a year ago," Ventus continued.

"So why did you stop? From what I can tell, they're still around, and from what you're saying, Spidey's the only one in this room that can actually stand up to them, despite the fact that we've got some guys with super armors, a super soldier, a couple master ex-assassins, the big guy, and a literal god of thunder, so why did you suddenly quit," Rhodes asked.

"It wasn't voluntary, but the reason is because…well, it's a really long story," Sora admitted with a sheepish shrug.

"Let me guess: Spiky there got into something he shouldn't have and it caused you to put everything on the backburner so that he and his other teammates that were dragged into it could get the help necessary to recover," Tony offered up.

"That is…surprisingly close to an accurate guess," Xion noted.

"We end up having to deal with similar situations in regards to Spider-Man almost all the time. Tony or Cap more often than the rest of us, any way," Black Widow shrugged.

"Of course we wouldn't, if he didn't try to take the weight of the world on his shoulders by himself all the time," Falcon added with a teasing grin.

"I'm right here, guys," Spider-Man reminded everyone. "Besides, it's not my fault that you prefer to handle the big stuff while leaving me to worry about the small, everyday problems that go on in the neighborhood."

"Anyways…It wasn't just Sora here that needed help. Roxas and Xion had actually been tricked into joining a dangerous group around the same time, and we needed time to figure out how to get them away and to safety, along with a few other things as well," Ventus finally concluded.

"Okay, so say we buy that you're really being up front with us about all of this Keyblades and Heartless stuff; I'll admit that it does prove a few things that Spidey was saying since that black out the whole world seemed to have about a year ago, but that still doesn't prove his ridiculous claim to working with a bunch of stupid cartoon characters when he met you guys," Hawkeye stated, and that proved to be the straw that broke the camel's back.

When he heard Hawkeye's remark, Donald's temper seemed to flare so much that it actually caused his form change to become undone, revealing his true self to everyone in the room as he hollered loudly in anger before tackling Hawkeye to the floor. "Who're you calling a stupid cartoon character, ya big palooka?! Does this feel like a cartoon to you," Donald hollered in his usual voice. Apparently, the change to his other voice was only in effect when his form change was active.

The Marvelites could only stare in disbelief, even as Sora and Goofy quickly scrambled to get Donald off and calmed down, and even after they had pulled him away from Hawkeye, they still had to really work at it to get Donald cooled off. It was not until Donald had finally relaxed and changed back into his human appearance that Tony finally said, "Well, I believe him on that now."

"So…where is Mickey Mouse, anyways? I mean, I know you guys are looking for him right now, but did you ever find him for even a brief moment," Spider-Man asked. After taking another look at the group, he finally noticed something he had missed before. "And come to think of it, wasn't there another girl on your team the last time we met? What happened to her?"

"Kairi went back to Destiny Islands after our last journey together, and last any of us heard, she was still there," Sora explained with a somewhat downcast look. He may not want Kairi mixed up in all of the danger that came with these adventures, but he did still miss her.

"Aw, don't worry Sora. You'll get to see your girlfriend again before you know it. And I'll bet she's just waiting for you to come home so she can give you a hero's welcome kiss," Roxas teased, earning a bright blush from Sora, and snickers from the rest of the team, save for one person, who knew just how to get even with Roxas on Sora's behalf.

"You mean like how you're hoping Naminé will for you, Bro," Xion questioned with her own tone of teasing.

That got Roxas to shut up, as his face turned crimson, while Sora gave Xion a thankful look for that intervention. Even though they did not really know the full story about what the Legion members were talking about, the Avengers were still able to figure out enough to realize the basic gist, and ended up laughing along with them as well, until Ventus got serious again and answered the rest of Spider-Man's question. "We did run into Mickey for a brief time, but he disappeared again shortly afterwards on a secret mission of his own. We need to find him now because he might have some important information regarding a new enemy of ours."

"I'm guessing this has to do with these guys in black coats that you mentioned before," Spider-Man reasoned.

"Good guess," Xion confirmed with a nod. "They're called Organization XIII, and they're made up of creatures known as Nobodies. Beings who had lost their hearts, but who are able to continue existing because they possessed a strong will. Unlike the Heartless, Nobodies are actually able to think and plan, especially in the case of the ones who retain their human forms, and those are the ones who make up the leaders of the Organization."

"So wait, the Heartless are creatures that devour hearts, but Nobodies are the guys who literally don't have hearts," Falcon asked. "Why not have it the other way around?"

The team all looked between themselves before they finally settled their gazes on Ventus, thinking he might know the answer. "Hey, don't look at me. I didn't come up with the names, and besides, as far as anyone knows, the Heartless were around long before the Nobodies were, so I guess…they just got first dibs or something," the blonde shrugged. "Either way, it doesn't detract from the point of the matter: the Heartless, the Nobodies, and the Organization are all dangerous."

"Well we can't just sit back and let them do whatever they want, so if you can give us any help or tips on how to deal with them, we're more than open to suggestions," Captain America stated.

The Keyblade Legion all merely smiled in response, and Jiminy took that as his cue to step in and start explaining details about the various Heartless they had encountered, referencing the notes in his journal for better explanations. It was a little jarring for the Avengers to be hearing all of this information from a cricket, but they seemed to roll with it pretty well, especially when the rest of the team stepped in to explain certain things to watch out for and various openings that they could take advantage of when fighting certain Heartless. Then again, the discussions about an enemy were always the easy parts. It was when you started trying putting the instructions into practice that really showed if you could handle yourself, as the Legion would soon learn.

* * *

A short time after Jiminy and the team had finished giving the basic rundown on the Heartless to the Avengers, the superheroes led the Legion to their base's training room so that they could better prepare for the fights ahead of them. It was definitely an impressive installation from what the Legion could see, and with a little bit of computer work, Iron Man was able to have the thing generate an impressively accurate replica of some of the Heartless via the holo-emitters in the training room. Most of the science went over Sora, Donald, and Goofy's heads, and even Ven's to a certain extent, but they were able to get a basic understanding of it all. Besides, it was after all of that when things started to get a little more interesting, as the team decided to sit back and see what the Avengers could do on their own when fighting the Heartless.

The superhero team certainly showcased an impressive display of teamwork, proving that they had been working together for some time now, though it showed in some of the members more than others. Namely in cases such as Black Widow and Hawkeye, or Iron Man and War Machine, the latter of which had provided a better explanation for their hero names the minute that the Legion saw them suited up in their armors, but there was also other cases as well, like with Spider-Man and Falcon, or even Thor and Captain America. The latter pair made their display clear when they performed a very impressive and destructive combo move in which Thor slammed his hammer against Cap's shield, creating a powerful shockwave that sent their surrounding foes flying, while the former showed off by having Falcon fly around and lay down several rounds of gunfire while Spider-Man hung onto him via a web-line so that he could better web down some targets for Falcon to hit. They did not remain in these pairings for too long though, as they did switch it up at a moment's notice so that they could keep an opponent guessing, and from what they could see, the Legion knew that the Avengers would likely be able to handle the real Heartless in short order, assuming that they were able to follow the adventurers' advice.

Thankfully, it seemed like that was the case, as Spider-Man, Cap, Falcon, Widow, and War Machine all took the advice that the Legion had given on how to handle certain Heartless to heart when they made a point to target specific Heartless over the others, or set up some of them for their teammates to take down. Iron Man and Thor on the other hand mainly just blasted their way through most of them, but considering what the Legion had seen that the two were capable of, it was understandable as to why they would do that. From what they could see, Thor was definitely a heavy-hitter kind of fighter, and it showed when they saw him easily knocked down and blast through a replica of a Large Body with both his hammer and his bare hands. Of course, it was still too soon to know if he would be able to do the same thing with the actual Heartless, but the lightning blasts that he generated would definitely be just as effective in real life as they would in this simulation. Hawkeye was a little bit of a mix between the two groups, as he did seem to take the Keybearers' advice into account, but more often than not, it seemed like he was trying harder to make his own openings. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but it was a little worrying to see him doing that, if you were to ask Ventus or Sora.

The only Avenger who was not participating in this practice was Doctor Banner, which made a certain sense to some of the team, but it still seemed strange that someone who seemed as harmless as Bruce was on a team like this despite being unable to really help. When Xion finally asked him about it, Bruce just shrugged with a sigh as he informed her, "I'm sort of a last resort option. A Code Green as we call it. When that happens, the other guy comes out to play and that usually ends up leading to a very big mess."

Xion did not need to even look at the others to know that they were now even more curious about this other guy that Bruce kept talking about, but they would have to table the matter for later, as the simulation had ended right at that moment, allowing them to have a turn in the simulator. Part of this was so that Tony could get a few recordings of how the Keyblade Legion fought against the Heartless, but the other reason was because Ventus wanted to go into details about a specific topic he had been thinking about for a while now with his apprentices while they had the chance. So, once the Avengers had all gathered up in the control room and begun going over a few things that they could improve on with advice from Donald and Goofy, Ventus led the three kids into the training room in order to begin their next big lesson.

At least that was his plan, until Sora actually put forth a question of his own. "Hey Ven, do you have any idea what was up with my armor earlier? I know that it's different as it is right now, but I wasn't expecting the full suit to have been altered too."

"I was actually wondering about the same thing," Xion admitted, having remembered seeing the way Sora's armor looked after he first got it in some of the dreams she had.

Ventus was rendered completely silent by that question, and could only slap his forehead in disbelief in response. "How could I have forgotten about that? I mean, I said I was going to explain it forever ago, and yet I still haven't covered that topic even once," the bearded blonde muttered. Once he was finished scolding himself, Ven finally looked up again so that he could properly address the three, but not before glancing over to see if the Avengers were distracted enough by their other friends. "Okay, let me start off by asking you this, Sora: do you remember what I told you and Kairi about your armors when you first received them a year ago?"

Thinking back to the moment in question, Sora eventually replied, "You said that the armors would change as we advanced further in our training, or something like that."

"And it has, at least in your case," Ventus stated. "The form your armor has taken on is now typical of a mid-level Keyblade warrior, or one that's on the verge of becoming a high-level warrior, hence the reason why it's now changed into the arm guard and shoulder armor you now have while its inactive, and the fact that it's gotten a little more padding and plating, along with your helmet having gained a pair of small prongs. When you've reached a level that is typical of a high-level warrior, or a Keyblade wielder that's on the verge of becoming a master, then your armor would change to be similar to how mine typically is, when I'm not wearing the cape."

"And would that mean that I'm ready to become a full-fledged master," Sora asked.

"Well…that would depend on who your teacher is. Some masters actually have their students wait until their Keyblade has achieved a new, more evolved form, but that's not important right now," Ventus dismissed.

"Hang on. If the armor only starts to get customized to the wearer once they've reached a certain rank in their training, how come mine and Xion's armors seemed to include a bit of customization on them," Roxas questioned. When everyone looked to him in confusion, he elaborated by stating, "I don't remember Sora ever having his emblem on the original version of his armor, but both of ours do."

"Well, the emblems are not actually a typical thing with most armors, as far as I know, but sometimes, if a small difference like that does appear on the full suit, it usually signifies that the armor's change could be on the verge of happening very soon," Ventus explained.

"So does that mean Roxas and I should expect an early promotion," Xion eagerly asked.

"No. While the armor's inactive states do tend to signify a Keyblade wielder's rank in their training, most of the time, it's more of a reflection of their current level of power and skill. Take my friend Terra for example. Technically speaking, he's not a Keyblade Master, but he does have the power and skill level of one, so his armor had reached its final evolution even before he first took the Mark of Mastery Exam," Ventus revealed.

"But the armor's can still act as a badge to show a wielder's ranking, right," Sora reasoned.

"Yes they can, but the actual promotion does still need to be finalized by a master, or another wielder of higher ranking," Ventus explained. "Any other questions about that?"

"…Nope. I think we're good," Sora said for the group after an exchange of glances with the other two.

"All right, then I think it's high time I taught you three about another ability that Keyblade wielders possess, and this is one that at least two of you have already tapped into, in a manner of speaking," Ventus declared. "The D-Link abilities."

"D-Link," Roxas echoed in question.

"It's short for Dimension Link, and it's an ability that almost every Keyblade wielder in history has learned to at least a small extent. I still remember how hard Aqua, Terra, and I all worked at it to get it just right, at least between the three of us," Ventus explained, chuckling a little at the nostalgia he felt at that last statement. "Anyways, at its most basic level, a D-Link is one of the most useful tools in a Keyblade wielder's arsenal, because it allows you to do so many things. The most common and basic of those being the ability to communicate with another Keyblade wielder, telepathically."

"We can do that," Xion asked in awe, with Sora and Roxas mirroring her astonishment with the looks on their faces.

"To a certain extent," Ventus clarified. "There are a few limitations to the ability. For starters, you need to at least have a basic idea of where the other wielder is, and even then, the other wielder you're trying to reach has to be a specific distance away. Yes, it can extend to another world, but the distance between two different worlds is always varying, so there's no guarantee that you would be able to reach the other wielder if the world they're on is too far from whatever world you're on. The other trick to it is that you have to have formed a connection with the other wielder. It doesn't have to be anything too special, and can be as simple as being a friend you just recently made, or a new student that you've just taken on a short time ago. Of course, the other person does need to have at least learned a little bit about how to harness the powers of D-Links in order for it to really work, so I wouldn't expect you guys to get a response from one another just yet unless you all master it at the exact same moment. More often than not though, it can be a huge help if you each have a special keepsake that's shared between the two of you."

"Is that why you haven't tried to get into contact with Aqua using that ability? Because you're not entirely sure where she is," Sora asked.

"Well, it would be more accurate to say that I don't have a clue where she is beyond the fact she is in the Realm of Light, but, yeah, that is the biggest reason," Ventus replied. "Just trying to reach them by searching for their link in the connection wouldn't work unless you have at least an idea of what world they may or may not be close to at that moment, and even then, there's always a chance that the world in question is outside of your range."

Xion and Sora both nodded in understanding, but Roxas was still thinking of something else that Ventus had mentioned. "You said that a special keepsake would help in making the connection. What kind of keepsake are we talking about?"

"Anything, so long as it represents the bond between you and the other person," Ventus replied. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a familiar star-shaped charm so he could show it off as he continued, "In the case of me and Aqua, we've each got this."

"Your Wayfinders," Sora identified. He then rummaged around in his various pockets before he finally pulled out his own, dark red charm with his crown emblem in the place of the badge Ven wore. "So does that mean that I could use mine to help me with creating a D-Link?"

"Technically, the D-Link is already created because of the connections you share with others in your heart, but yes, it would help you to establish the link in regards to specific individuals. At the moment though, I'm pretty sure that you'll only be able to use it to connect to me, Sora. I highly doubt that Kairi's been able to learn anything about this in the time that you've been apart from one another," Ventus clarified.

That got a mildly frustrated scowl from Sora, but at the same time, it also seemed to bring down Roxas and Xion's moods a little. "I guess that means we're going to have a harder time making our D-Links to you and Sora work, won't we," the girl of the two figured.

"Maybe, but like I said, it doesn't necessarily need to be one of these Wayfinders. It just needs to be something that one of you considers a strong representation of your bond," Ventus reassured them. "Besides, I don't think it should be too hard for you three to get this working right, considering that at least two of you have already managed to use a more advanced form of D-Links without even realizing it."

"We have," the three repeated in question.

Ventus just quietly nodded in return, making the three think back over their experiences so far in an attempt to figure out when any of them had done something like that. Not that they had to try for too long, as Sora quickly figured it out. "You're talking about what Xion and Mulan did when they fought Shan-Yu in the Land of Dragons, and that ability that Roxas used with Beast at his castle, aren't you?"

"Exactly," Ventus confirmed with a smile. "Those powers are the more advanced version of D-Links, known as Command Links."

"Judging by the name, I'm guessing that they've got a few similarities with Command _Styles_ as well," Xion figured.

"Good guess. Unlike the D-Links, a Command Link can be formed with just about anyone that a Keyblade wielder forms a strong connection with, whether the other person has a Keyblade or not. It doesn't stop with just one person either; there have been Command Links that are formed between a single wielder and at least two other people. The most basic requirement is that the other individual, or individuals, must have a strong heart and spirit, one that matches that of the Keyblade wielder in some way. Once activated, the Command Link grants both subjects an incredible new set of powers for a short period of time that they wouldn't normally have, which is what makes it similar to Command Styles. Each Command Link can only be performed by those specific two people, meaning that Xion is the only one who can perform her Command Link with Mulan, while only Roxas can use the Command Link he created with Beast. Unlike Command Styles though, there's no general variety of Command Links, because no two links are exactly the same, just like how no two people or bonds between people are ever exactly the same, so the only way to really know what your Command Link can do is to activate it for the first time."

"How do you create a Command Link with someone then, because there's no way that it's as simple as making friends with someone," Roxas asked.

"You're right. Yes, a strong bond is necessary, but whether or not a Command Link can be established between you and the other person, or in some cases, persons, all depends on the people in question. You can't force it out anymore than you could force someone to be your friend, and there's no set pattern to determine when it actually happens. Sometimes it'll happen when you and the other person are fighting a particular enemy, other times it may be when you're just in a really hard battle. There have even been cases where it just happens while your training with the person or simply talking with them."

"Did you ever form a Command Link with Aqua or Terra, Ven," Sora asked.

Ventus paused at that question before he hung his head a little in slight sorrow and replied, "No, we never got the chance to really try. We spent more time mastering all the abilities of standard D-Links that by the time we were ready to try and form a Command Link between each other, we had already started getting swept up into…well, into quite a few events that led to my first real adventure through the worlds."

It was a little saddening to hear that Ventus missed out on his chance to form a Command Link with either his best friend or the woman he loved, and the three all felt like they may need to leave the room to give Ventus a minute after that, but the Keyblade master soon perked up again to ask if there were any other questions that they wanted to ask before they started working on the powers of D-Links. Sora was much more hesitant to ask any questions after seeing the effect his last one had on his master, and Xion could not really think of anything else to ask, but Roxas did catch one thing that Ven said a minute ago that he was curious about. "You mentioned that a D-Link can allow Keyblade wielders to do things besides just communicate with each other. What else is there?"

That seemed to really brighten up Ven's spirits, and it showed when he answered. "Well, even though the communication aspect isn't always able to be used when its active, the one feature about a D-Link that can always be used is the ability to increase your strength and allow you to perform special abilities based on the person the link is formed with. For example, when I'm using the link between me and Aqua in battle, all of my magic abilities are greatly strengthened, and grants me a finishing ability known as Magic Volley, while the link between me and Terra boosts my regular strength just as much and gives me a finisher called Landbreaker. Some D-Links even have other special powers that you can't use at any other time, like the one I share with Mickey."

"So using a D-Link wouldn't just allow us to better communicate with each other in the midst of a fight, but it would also make us stronger based on who were linked with at the time," Xion reasoned out.

"In a manner of speaking. That particular part of the D-Link is a lot harder to master, and you can only ever use that bit of the D-Link's power with one person at a time. You can use the communication function of a D-Link with multiple people, but in terms of the battle bonuses, it has to be one specific person," Ventus informed them. "I wouldn't worry too much about that for now though. All you three need to worry about is learning how to form the D-Link between each other, and using it as a method of communication."

The three nodded in reply, and were just about to set to work when the sound of someone tapping on a microphone reverberated through the room, making them look up to the control room that Donald, Goofy, and the Avengers were in. _"Hey, have you guys still not started yet? We're not going to be able to learn more about how we fight these Heartless and Nobodies if you take your time getting ready,"_ Tony called out over the mike.

"Don't worry, Tony. I just needed to give my students a quick lesson or two before we officially got to work. I figured it might come in handy later on," Ventus reassured them. He then looked to said apprentices and said, "All right. Ready to show these guys how we do things Keyblade wielder style?"

"You mean Keyblade _Legion_ style," Sora playfully corrected.

While Roxas playfully rolled his eyes at his original other, Xion just smiled and admitted, "You know, that name's actually starting to grow on me a little."

The four Keybearers all then turned to face the simulated enemies that Iron Man just activated, Keyblades in hand, and set to work, with the younger of the three all mentally starting to work on how to begin using the power that Ven just told them about.

* * *

Around the same time that the Keyblade Legion was giving the Avengers a quick review on all things Heartless and Organization XIII, the dark forces of Marvel Universe were in the midst of finding some new friends of their own. At least one of these forces was, as one Baron Strucker was currently in his main base just on the outskirts of Sokovia, standing before an old foe of the Keyblade Legion's in order to work out a deal of their own. Not that Strucker was too fond of having to deal with this matter, as he would have much preferred to oversee more of the work on the scepter that HYDRA had liberated from SHIELD lockup during their more recent infiltration operations, as well as the results of their experiments using the scepter, namely the only two successes that some of those experiments had. However, Strucker was not a fool, since he knew that in this new age of miracles, as he had once called it, HYDRA would need every advantage they could get, so here he was, speaking with the large man in blue, red, and purple armor-like attire who sounded and acted so much like a certain cartoon character from famous children's cartoons.

"So lemme get this straight," Pete requested. "You and your pals here are all up against a bunch of do-gooders in snazzy, flashy costumes, and yet despite the fact that you've got an army that's equipped with all this fancy tech, you're still losing?"

"Despite what others may think, the Avengers are a formidable force, but only the most common and simple of minds truly fear them. Of course, I am not one of these simple fools, hence the reason why they have yet to find this facility, and why I have been able to continue the work that was not exposed by Nick Fury and Black Widow when they purged HYDRA from SHIELD," Strucker explained as though it were obvious, though somehow, he still kept his tone impressively neutral. It then turned dangerous as he questioned, "Do you find a reason to doubt us from that?"

"No, no. If anything I can relate to it," Pete quickly reassured. "Me, I got to deal with a couple of doofuses, and a bunch of brats that use Keyblades gettin' in the way of my plans too, and that's part of the reason why I'm here talkin' to you. See, if they happen to come here, I'm bettin' that we could team-up and take 'em all down easy, especially if you were to have the help of my Heartless with you."

"We are well aware of the shadow creatures' powers and have already learned how to control them. What could we learn from a buffoon like you," Strucker questioned.

"You know, since you seem like such a downright, nasty guy, I'm gonna let that one slide, and tell ya that whatever you're doin' to control the Heartless ain't gonna last. I've got the real deal instructions on how to take the reins, and can get you a lot more than just a handful of Shadows and whatever else you're lucky enough to collar. Plus, if you stick with me, you'll get a lot more than just a few loser heroes croakin'. In point of fact, you'll get more than anything that this world could offer for you or anyone else."

That seemed to catch Strucker's attention, and he leaned in closer to ask for more details until he noticed that they were no longer alone. Letting out a tired sigh, he looked to the intruders and said, "I had thought that you two were supposed to be kept in your rooms."

"Then you should find better security," a young, Sokovian boy with silver hair quipped as he stepped out from the shadows along with a woman that looked a lot like him, except for the fact that she had dark hair. The boy's attire was mostly varying shades of blue, and seemed consistent with that of a professional runner, while the girl wore a black dress with a red leather jacket over it, black leather wrist bands and boots, and torn stockings.

"And just who're you two," Pete asked, marching over to get into the boy's face as a way of trying to intimidate him.

Pete's tactic did not work, as the boy just smirked in return when he replied. "Strucker's people call us Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. Reason being that I'm fast, and my sister has powers that almost seem like magic to some."

"Oh yeah? Magic how," Pete challenged. He was then suddenly lifted up into the air by several tendrils of red energy, most of which were clearly coming from the girl's hands while her eyes glowed in the same shade of red. A moment later, Pete felt as though he were being crushed, right to the point where he was starting to have trouble breathing, until he was roughly dropped on the ground.

"That's how," Scarlet Witch replied in a soft tone of voice that certainly sounded frightening. If Pete did not know better, he would even say that this girl was probably related to Maleficent somehow.

"Okay, I'll admit, that's nice, but just how fast is silver here," Pete asked.

Quicksilver cracked his neck with a simple motion of his head and then became a blur of blue and silver as he raced around the room, and eventually even out of the room. Seconds later, Pete found that an old burger had been thrown into his face once the blur had returned, and afterwards, Quicksilver reemerged once more with a napkin at the ready, and a smirk on his face. "You didn't see that coming?"

"Cute, kid. Real cute," Pete grumbled as he accepted the napkin, though secretly he did like these kids' style. He then turned to Strucker and asked, "So what do you plan on havin' these two do in takin' down these Avengers?"

"They are not ready yet," Strucker dismissed.

"Coulda fooled me. In fact, I think that they might even have the potential to be a big help with a little something that'll make sure that those zeroes never find you," Pete offered.

Strucker seemed to consider this for a moment, looking at the twins as he thought, until he finally asked, "What do you have in mind?"

Pete just grinned widely as he snapped his fingers to summon several different Heartless, while a shadowy aura seemed to surround the twins. As it did, Strucker's grin seemed to grow a little more, but both he and Pete had failed to notice that for the first time in a while Scarlet Witch seemed a little frightened by whatever the large man was doing to her and her brother.

* * *

Back at the tower, a few hours had gone by since Sora, Roxas, Xion, and Ven had started showing what they were capable of to the Avengers, while the kids were trying to get a handle on how to use the basic skill of the D-Link abilities. It was slow going, but after a while, Sora was able to successfully tap into the link between himself and Ventus, while Roxas and Xion did the same with their link. Unfortunately, those were the only D-Links that any of them were able to completely forge and communicate through, but Ven had said that there was a chance that they would not all be able to forge a D-Link between the whole group, and quickly reassured the three kids that it would happen for all of them in time. That did not keep Sora from asking Roxas and Xion what keepsakes that they were using to help them with their D-Link communication abilities.

The twins just shared a smile between each other before they pulled out a certain pair of drawing utensils that they had recovered from the virtual copy of the Twilight Town Old Mansion. "A pair of crayons," Sora asked, completely perplexed.

"These were Naminé's," Xion explained. "We figured that she might like to have these back, so we each decided to hold onto at least one to give her when we see her again."

"Plus, they are a good way to remember her by, considering how much she loved to draw," Roxas added on.

"They're not wrong. Besides, no one said that the keepsake had to be something fancy," Ventus informed both Sora and the twins with a smile. "Either way, you all did well to forge and access the D-Links that you did in such a short amount of time. It took me, Aqua, and Terra a few months before we had managed to do the same between all three of us."

"How long did it take for you to do it with just one or the other," Xion asked.

"Well…in Terra's case, I'd say it was about a month, but Aqua…probably a few weeks, give or take a day."

"Why am I not surprised," Sora teasingly laughed as he rested both hands behind his head, while Xion and Roxas both gained similarly teasing smiles.

"Do you three want to run nothing but basic drills for a week after we get back to the ship," Ventus questioned threateningly. The three kids probably would have said that he was bluffing, but given the smile on his face and how serious he sounded when he asked, they were a little unsure about that, so they wisely kept quiet.

At least they did until Roxas thought of another matter that they were feeling a little down about. "I just wish we were able to perform at least one Command Link with each other just as easily as we had managed everything with our D-Links," the blonde sighed.

"Hey, it's like I said earlier. Command Links may be similar to them, but they are still very different from Command Styles. It's not a simple matter of training with a specific type or types of magic; it's something that's forged from within your heart and that of the person your combining your powers with. Whether or not it even happens at all is really just something that would be left up to chance, but the chances do get better if your bond with the person gets stronger. Just be patient, and let it happen when it happens," Ventus advised.

The three could only nod in reply, as they had just entered the Avengers' living room again to see that the team was all gathered around for more discussion on everything that they had now learned. From what they could overhear, Tony had already made some adjustments to both his and Rhodey's armors' systems and weapons so that they would be more capable of destroying the Heartless on their own, and Hawkeye and Widow were making similar adjustments to their own weapons. Captain America and Falcon were in the midst of talking with Spider-Man about various strategies that they would be able to implement against the Heartless, while the web-head himself was mixing up a fresh batch of web-fluid so that he would not run out while in the middle of a fight. Donald and Goofy were more than happy to give a few of their own ideas to the superheroes, and all the ideas seemed to be eagerly welcomed.

The only ones not doing anything were Thor and Banner. The latter was obvious, as far as the Legion could tell, but Thor was a different story. When they finally asked after announcing their presence to everyone in the room, the blonde merely said, "While these are formidable foes, they are still little more than a mild challenge to an Asgardian warrior, be it myself or any other brave soul from home."

"Whatever you say, Point-Break," Tony muttered under his breath, earning him a scowl from Thor and a few chuckles from everyone else that was close enough to hear him and able to understand the reference.

"Are you sure about that, Thor," Xion asked, a little worried for her new friend.

"Of course, dear lady. No matter what the beast may be, they cannot hope to withstand the wrath of Mjolnir," Thor promised.

"The wrath of who," Roxas asked.

"Mjolnir, and it's not a who; it's a what," Spider-Man filled in for the dual Keyblade wielder and his friends. "That's the name of his hammer, which lets him fly around and shoot lightning, along with a lot of other cool stuff."

"Whoa! That sounds awesome," Sora grinned in excitement. Sure, he may have the Keyblade, but hearing about a hammer that could do stuff like that was still impressive.

"It also sounds really dangerous," Ventus said, clearly concerned. "If the hammer lets him do that, what's to stop one of the bad guys from using it against him?"

"You need not worry, Master Ventus. Only those who are worthy can wield Mjolnir," Thor revealed.

"Kind of like how it is with our Keyblades," Xion noted to her friends. "But how do you know if someone is worthy or not?"

Thor chuckled in response to that question before retrieving the hammer from where he was carrying it on his belt and held it out to Sora. "Here my young friend. Why don't you give it a try?"

Sora looked around to his other friends, who could only shrug in response, and while he was a little concerned at the knowing grins on the Avengers' faces, he still figured that there was no harm in seeing what would happen, so he reached out and grasped the hammer's handle. The minute Thor let go, the hammer dropped to the floor so fast it was almost like you would have missed it if you blinked, and Sora was pulled along with it. Not that he let that bother him for too long, as proven when Sora tried to stand up again, only to find himself unable to bring the hammer up with him. No matter how hard he pulled, the thing just simply refused to budge an inch, and while his teammates tried to suppress their chuckles at his efforts, all the Marvelites did not hold back their laughter at all.

"Give it up, kid. I can guarantee that thing will not be moving an inch," Banner advised after getting control of his laughter for a minute.

Sora paused in his attempts to move the hammer only to shoot everyone a dirty look for laughing at him, but once he had done so, he went right back to trying to lift the hammer, or at the very least move it. It was a little silly to see Sora trying so hard to move Thor's hammer like this, but while everyone else was busy laughing at Sora's continued attempts, Thor actually found his smile being wiped away when he saw the hammer move just a little bit before going still again. Eventually, Sora did finally give up, and took the laughter of the others with a smile as he simply shrugged, no one ever noticing how Thor was glancing between the boy and his hammer in curiosity.

"The mighty wielder of the Kingdom Key, and hero of Kingdom Hearts, everyone; defeated by a magic hammer," Roxas teased.

"Oh yeah? Well let's see _you_ do better," Sora challenged.

Roxas merely smirked while the Avengers all "oooo-ed" in response to that. They were soon cheering as Roxas marched forward with a confident smirk, and Tony declared, "Ladies and gentlemen, the gauntlet has been thrown down: the Lifting of Thor's Hammer Challenge, Keyblade Legion addition is on!"

While some cheered and others rolled their eyes at Tony's rather childish proclamation, Roxas merely wrapped the leather strap on the handle around his wrist while asking, "So if I can lift this, that means I'm worthy, right?"

"Oh yes. As the enchantment my father placed on it states, 'whosoever lifts this hammer, should he be worthy, will possess the power of Thor.' So, anything I can do, you'll be able to do, assuming you can lift the hammer," Thor replied.

That just made Roxas smirk a little more, and he soon began to try and lift up the hammer. He ended up having just about as much luck as Sora, and at one point, everyone could even hear him grumbling about it should be no problem for him to lift the hammer since he was able to naturally use two Keyblades at the same time. Xion found it a little funny that her brother seemed to think that, and soon pushed him away, citing that it probably required a woman's touch, and was soon making her own attempt at moving the hammer. Needless to say, she also did not manage to make the hammer move, though one would have to make note that it seemed like Widow was cheering her on a little more so than she had been for Sora and Roxas.

"All right, kid, you had your shot. Now step aside, and let me show you how it's done," Donald declared, his altered voice making it sound like he was delivering an epic movie line that sent chills up everyone's spines.

The new flare that his changed voice gave him did not seem to do all that much for Donald's attempts at lifting the hammer, and some of them were even starting to think that he was going to get frustrated enough to break the magic that altered his appearance for this world again. Thankfully, it did not get to that point, but Goofy did eventually step up to try and help his friend lift the hammer, and everyone was soon treated to the sight of both Donald and Goofy working together in an attempt to make Thor's hammer move. Needless to say, it ended in failure.

"You getting a feeling of déjà vu just now, too," Rhodey asked Tony.

"Yep," Stark confirmed with a simple nod.

Ventus spared a small glance in the two armored heroes' direction for a second while Donald and Goofy continued trying to move the hammer, before he whispered to Sora, "Hey, have you noticed that Donald's new voice actually sounds a lot like Rhodey's?"

"Now that you mention it," Sora started to say, only to stop short when they realized Donald and Goofy had finally given up, and that everyone was now looking at Ventus to see if he would take up the challenge.

The bearded blonde would have to let everyone down, as he waved his hands in refusal while saying, "No thanks. I'm good with what I've already got."

"Well, don't take it too hard, you guys. HYDRA's going to have enough to worry about with just one person that has all of Thor's powers," Spider-Man reassured them.

After hearing that name brought up once again, the Keyblade Legion could barely keep their curiosity in check for much longer, and Sora finally asked the question they were all wondering. "What's this HYDRA you guys all keep talking about?"

The Avengers could not help but look at the kid for a minute in disbelief, but it seemed like they were able to remember the reason why neither he or the rest of the Keyblade Legion would know that quickly enough and soon launched into as short of an explanation as they could. "HYDRA's an old terrorist organization that's been around for decades," Black Widow informed them. "Originally, it was a weapons development group for the Nazis back in World War II, but their original leader, Red Skull eventually cut ties so that he could further his own goals. Even though that objective failed, HYDRA still carried on, even after the war. Just recently, we found out that they even had sleeper agents inside of SHIELD, the best world peace-keeping organization on the planet, and the only way we were able to get them out was to expose all the dirty laundry that SHIELD had, effectively destroying the agency from the inside along with everything HYDRA had inside of it."

"I'm guessing that did not end very well for more than a few people," Roxas figured. He may not remember much about his time in the Organization, but he did still retain enough knowledge from those days to know that such a move would have very serious consequences.

"Good guess. SHIELD was pretty much destroyed and needing to be rebuilt from the ground up afterwards, while any remaining HYDRA elements that were inside did their best to slip away through whatever cracks were still left," Falcon revealed. "Cap, Widow, and I were able to round up most of them with the help of Nick Fury, the former director of SHIELD, and one of his most trusted agents, Maria Hill, but there were still more than a few that got away, and with some very dangerous items as well."

"Among those being Loki's scepter," Thor added. "In the wrong hands it is dangerous enough, but in the hands HYDRA, there's no telling what may happen."

"That's why finding whatever HYDRA base it was sent to has been a high priority for us until your shadowy friends began popping up," Tony finished for the group.

While it raised a few more questions for the Keybearers, it did at least cover all the necessary basics for them, so they were willing to take that for now. At least until an alarm suddenly began blaring throughout the room. _"Pardon me, everyone, but it seems that the Heartless are on the move again,"_ JARIVS reported. _"The news has already begun streaming various reports."_

A minute later, a news channel was brought up on a holo-screen with the reporter's voice coming through loud and clear as he practically ranted about what was happening. _"For those of you just joining us, this is J. Jonah Jameson of Daily Bugle Communications, reporting on yet another attack of the vile shadow monsters, only this time, with the known terrorist force, HYDRA backing them up. Just today, these creatures were seen wreaking havoc alongside Rhino and that masked menace, Spider-Man, which can only mean one thing: the web-head was acting as a vanguard for this bigger attack! And believe me, this is a bigger attack, because they are practically crawling all over the city as we speak, and there's absolutely no sign of the wall-crawler attempting perform any of his so-called 'heroics' in an attempt to stop them!"_

"Sheesh, what's his problem," Roxas asked, directing the question mostly towards Spider-Man.

"Believe me, dude, I've been asking that same question for a long, _long_ time now," Spidey grumbled in return.

"He is right about one thing. Those Heartless are all over the city. There's no way we'll be able to get to them all in time," Banner informed everyone as he checked the read-outs on the tower's scanners.

"Maybe not if we just go at them one group at a time, but what if we tried to hit each major area all at once," Ventus offered.

"We split up," Captain America cottoned on. "One Keyblade wielder per group. Start from the outer-most points of the city and work our way into the middle, or better yet, wherever they're coming from."

"JARVIS, see if you can find a pattern to their movements. That may help us locate that source a little faster, and if we can do that, we may finally find a clue on where they're keeping Reindeer Games' favorite toy," Tony ordered his AI while his armor flew over and formed around him.

 _"Very well, sir,"_ JARVIS replied.

The rest of the Avengers all quickly geared up and began dividing up into group, with each group making sure to have one of the Keyblade wielders in it, until finally, they were ready to move out. When they all flew out of the tower to begin their mission, Iron Man could be heard shouting, "Avengers, Keyblade Legion…shine some lights on the subject."

* * *

 ** _AN: Yeah, gotta be honest, I was kinda hoping to make this all one chapter, but I guess that was just a little unrealistic of me. But hey, on the bright side, we got all the meet- &-greets done, plus a little backstory on this world for the Legion, and said team finally getting their name. And yeah, that little tidbit between Sora and Ven about the former probably going with something like Keyblade Hero Six, is me making fun of how Sora named his group Keyblade Hero Three in KH3 when they teamed up with Big Hero 6. I just had to do it._**

 ** _Now then, to clarify on a few points regarding this world. Unlike in the Kingdom Marvels Series, everything Marvel is referred to as Marvel Universe, namely because this follows the more traditional route of how worlds are set up in Kingdom Hearts as opposed to how they work in Kingdom Marvels, in which other worlds are just different planets in our galaxy, or however you want to put it, hence the reason why I named it Marvel Universe and not Marvel-topia like in Hearts of Avengers. As for the Avengers themselves, well they've all got their designs and set-up that they had by the time of Avengers: Age of Ultron, which is in fact a huge inspiration for the plot line of this world in this series. In short, this version of Marvel Universe draws most of its design from the MCU, while also including elements of other Marvel franchises, hence the reason why Spider-Man is currently an Avenger, and why he's obviously been stated to have battled the Rhino in the past, and why said villain is Russian like he was in the PS4 Spider-Man video game._**

 ** _Roxas: Not to mention you found a way to work in Jameson and one of his rants for this chapter._**

 ** _AN: Well, what can I say? Seeing J.K. Simmons return to the role for Spider-Man: Far From Home certainly provided the inspiration and motivation to do so. And as some of you predicted, Pete's working with HYDRA, and it looks like they're already gearing up for something big with Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver on their side, but the former does not seem to have a very good feeling about how things will go down._**

 ** _Moving on to other matters, Ven's finally explained the basics of D-Links and Command Links to the kids, and as of now, Roxas and Xion can only D-Link with each other, while Sora and Ven can only use it between them, but don't worry, the four will all be using the D-Link to at least communicate with one another soon enough. As far as other D-Link abilities go though, it won't be expanding beyond that. I didn't really use the D-Links very much in Birth By Sleep beyond just making sure that they were fully powered up, so I'm not going to bother with them having the Legion use them all that much beyond a method of communication. As for Command Links, I know a lot of you are now thinking about how the group's going to forge one between one another, and you're all probably getting your imaginations working on what one between Roxas and Sora, or Xion and Sora, or Roxas and Xion is going to be like. Well let me tell you right now that it's going to be a while before that happens, so please try to refrain from begging to see it happen sooner. I promise that it will happen when it happens. And don't worry, Ven and Aqua will eventually forge a Command Link between one another as well. Fair warning though, it'll likely be a very original ability, unless I see anything to indicates that they already have an existing Command Link between them, like how Mickey and Aqua did with the Wayfinder Command Link. And no, Sky Climber doesn't count. I already explained why that could not be the case when Ven explained Tier Two Command Styles earlier on in the story/series._**

 ** _Oh, and just to be clear, that whole thing where Ven commented on Donald's normal voice sounding like Rhodey's is actually a reference to the fact that Don Cheadle was the voice of Donald Duck for that episode in which Donald's voice was normal. And yeah, I had to have a scene where everyone in the Keyblade Legion was trying to lift Thor's hammer. Guess a lot of you are now thinking that Sora making the hammer move a little bit is probably alluding to something big happening later on, right?_**

 ** _Now, with all of that said and done, let's move it along to the most important part of these ending notes: the part where all of you guys move Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _A battle spanning across all of New York has both the Keyblade Legion and Avengers fighting at nothing less than their best, but in some cases, they may have to fight a little harder. Sora and Spider-Man's group is actually one such case as they come face-to-face with Scarlet Witch, while Roxas's team end up fighting Quicksilver, but once all the battles are over, they do end up figuring out a few clues on where they need to go to really put a stop to the Heartless problem on Marvel Universe, and maybe even the HYDRA problem as well. Prepare to cut off one head, and then hunt down the two more that take it's place, next time._**

 ** _Please read and review, and see ya real soon!_**


	15. Marvelous Face-Offs

**_AN: Phew! Looks like I just made it on updating this before 2019 had ended. If you're reading this after New Year's Eve has come and gone though, trust me, I am being totally honest in that statement, because after a brief break, we are now back with another update for Keyblade Legion!_**

 ** _[audience applause]_**

 ** _Yeah, sorry for the wait, guys, but I've been really focused on my newest crossover story, Remnant of the Key, a crossover between RWBY and Kingdom Hearts, which takes place Post-KH3. Trust me, you should check it out once you get a chance, because I've done some really good work with it, and it's only going to get better as the story progresses from where it's currently at._**

 ** _Now, I don't want to bore you guys with a long-winded opening note, keep you here waiting too long for some ridiculous gag that may not even happen, or make you have to skip through all the review answers just so you can get to the meat of the chapter, so what're we waiting around here for! Let's get into the action already guys!_**

 ** _I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story._**

* * *

 **Chapter XV**

It had not taken too long for the two teams to split into their separate groups after leaving Avengers tower, and just as Captain America and Ventus had suggested, each group consisted of one of the four Keyblade wielders with at least two or three of the others backing them up. Roxas, Donald, Goofy, and Hawkeye covered the rooftops of the city, with Roxas taking point on slicing through the enemies while Goofy covered Donald and Hawkeye as they bombarded most of the Heartless with spells and arrows. Xion assisted Cap, Widow, and Falcon in destroying the invading dwellers of darkness while tracking the Heartless' movements so that they could better determine where they were all coming from. Sora found himself battling enemies throughout the skies and streets alongside of Iron Man and Spidey, each of them the most focused on destroying enemies and protecting civilians, a feat that was old hat for the web-head, and made even easier thanks to Tony calling in his Iron Legion drones. Finally, Ventus covered the skies with Thor and War Machine, and more often than not, ended up dealing with the bigger and/or stronger monsters; not that he was complaining mind you. Ven's team consisted of a powerful thunder god and a man that could be described as a literal, walking armory, so dealing with the bigger, heavy hitters was not too much trouble for them.

With all of these teams on the case, the Heartless quickly found themselves facing problems. Sure, the bad guys held an advantage in numbers, but considering that they were facing both the Keyblade Legion and this world's mightiest heroes, it did not need to be said just how dangerously outmatched they were. Even so, there was one thing that Ventus found a little odd, which he had to give voice to, even as he managed to blast several Large Bodies and Neoshadows into dust with Salvation. "How come Dr. Banner isn't out here with us," Ventus inquired as he turned to slice Guardian Wind through an approaching Shadow, followed by a Tireblade that was just seconds away from cutting him in two. "Isn't he an Avenger as well?"

"He is, but we're not quite at a point where we need him to step in, and trust me, it's better that way," Rhodey replied as he flew past Ven, firing his repulsors along with his shoulder cannon at any Heartless that so much as skimmed into his crosshairs. "Having the Hulk's power on our side of a fight is great, but having him out here makes it a lot harder to keep the collateral damage small."

"The what," Ventus asked, wondering how they got from Banner to some other thing that he had not heard about until now. This pause would probably have led him to being hit by a Bizarre Archer's arrow, but Ven was no amateur; he was able to easily deflect the arrow and then blast its shooter off its perch via wind magic without even glancing in the Heartless's direction.

"The Hulk. A being that many believe to be the strongest hero there is. Though I myself find the claim to be a little debatable," Thor proclaimed while slamming his hammer into several different, bigger enemies. He was proving just how true it was that the Heartless stood no chance against Mjolnir, as even the Large Bodies were taking serious damage and hits when Thor attacked them with said hammer, without even needing to maneuver around and hit them from behind.

Rhodey had quickly touched down alongside the Asgardian to fire a few rounds from his wrist guns, followed by a short barrage of micro missiles, before he turned to Thor and asked, "Really? You want to start that now, when Hulk's not even here?"

"Yes, you're right…It's not nearly as fun when the Hulk is absent," Thor mused sadly.

"Okay, so…Why is it such a problem if he's really that strong," Ventus interrupted, filing that bit of strangeness away for later.

"There's a reason why Banner was surprised by how little fear you, Donald, Goofy, and your kids were of him," Rhodey started off as his shoulder cannon spun around to fire a few blasts at some approaching Flutterings.

"Please don't call them my kids," Ventus flatly requested.

"Banner only turns into the Hulk when he's especially angry, and the angrier Hulk gets, the stronger he gets. Now what's the first thing you would think of when you see a giant, raging monster barreling down the streets and tearing up everything in a mad rampage," Rhodey continued on.

Ventus personally would have given a different answer from most normal people, but he figured that Rhodey was asking what he would do if he were a normal person, in which case, the blonde had to concede, "I think I can see your point."

"To be honest, Banner barely has that much control over the big guy most of the time, even if he and Nat did work out a method to help him focus and regain control after a fight had ended, so we try to use Hulk as a last resort for when a situation is really serious and we need the extra muscle. Even then, it didn't stop Banner and Tony from building a suit of armor that's literally designed for fighting the big guy," Rhodey finished.

"Regardless, the Hulk is a formidable force to be reckoned with, and the gates of hell are heavily lined with many enemies that dared to challenge him. Even I have clashed with him from time to time, and they are always some of the most exhilarating battles I have ever experienced, regardless of how they are usually left unfinished," Thor boasted proudly.

Hearing that, Ventus now had a newfound respect for Banner. To be able to hold back something that powerful had to take an impressive force of will that very few people possessed, but at the same time, he figured that Bruce's mind was left pretty rattled by the aftereffects of any fight that he entered into as the Hulk. From what he could gather, it did seem like Bruce and Hulk were two different people sharing the same body, so given the kind of harm and destruction that Hulk could cause, Ventus would be very surprised if Banner had not broken down from the guilt and shame he would feel knowing that he had probably hurt someone by accident, friend, foe, or bystander. It was a matter that he would have to think about later, because there were some more Heartless coming in that looked eager for another beat down. Among these arrivals were several that looked like living cars with jagged teeth, along with a few that looked to be either flying or fused into fighter planes, which Ventus recognized from Jiminy's newest notes as Hot Rods and Aeroplanes.

"You know, I was okay with just blasting these things whenever and wherever before, but after seeing those airplane-looking Heartless, I'm feeling a little insulted now," Rhodey admitted with an edge in his tone.

Ven did not get a chance to ask Rhodey about his reasons for being upset with the Aeroplanes, since the colonel had already blasted off to engage said Heartless in a veritable dog-fight, but considering that he had learned that Rhodey was an air pilot even before he got his armor, it did make a little sense. "Yes! Into battle once more, my friends," Thor cheered as he spun his hammer round and then launched himself forward as said hammer became charged with lightning. "HAVE AT THEE!"

When Thor's hammer hit the ground again, an explosion of lightning erupted out from where he struck, and blasted several of the surrounding Heartless into oblivion. The only problem was that it seemed to cause some small damage to the surrounding buildings and streets as well, which only Ventus seemed to really notice. "If this is what they call minimized collateral damage then I'm officially getting a little worried about the kind of damage Hulk would cause if he were here," Ventus muttered to himself as he rejoined the fight too. "Still, that was a pretty cool move. Kind reminded me of Terra's Critical Impact finisher, but with lightning."

* * *

While Ventus was busy taking down tougher enemies and learning more about Banner's place on the Avengers, Xion was hard at work, busily looking over an area that the Heartless and some HYDRA soldiers had just been occupying. At least until she, Captain America, Black Widow, and Falcon had arrived to destroy the dark creatures and take down the terrorists. She was a little skeptical about just what Cap would be able to do when she learned his only weapon was a shield and that his powers was basically being at the ultimate peak of human physical condition, but after seeing the man take down several Neoshadows, Tireblades, and HYDRA goons singlehanded, all skepticism went out the door, and it was safe to say that she was left in great awe of the super soldier. Sure, Widow was able to take down a fair amount as well, but she was armed with bracelets that fired electric blasts that she called stingers, and a pair of electrically-charged staves, and Falcon, well he had his wings and guns, so that spoke for itself.

Speaking of the winged hero, Falcon had just landed alongside of them after finishing up a round of aerial recon, and retracted his wings into the backpack they extended from as he reported, "It looks like this area's clear for the most part, but I couldn't find anything that would tell us which way they could've come from. I've got Red Wing up in the air still making some scans just to be on the safe side though."

"Alright; good work Sam," Cap told his wingman before turning to the girls. "Nat, you find anything yet?"

"Nothing so far, but we all know how tough it is to make HYDRA soldiers crack. Plus, this is the first time I've had to track monsters that were literally made from the darkness in people's hearts, so I can't say that I really know much about what I'm doing," Widow admitted.

"Good thing I do," Xion stated as she stood up straight from where she had been kneeling down on the ground. "Some of these claw marks form a rough trail that could indicate where they were coming from before they got here." She then turned to point in the direction that the trail headed in and said, "That way seems like our best bet in finding either the Heartless boss or whoever it is that's been taken over by their darkness."

None of the three Avengers saw much reason to argue with her, given that Xion was the Heartless expert for their team and instead just nodded as they headed in the direction she had indicated. One of them did still voice their opinion on her tracking skills though. "You really know your stuff when it comes to tracking these things, kid," Natasha praised. "Is that normal Keyblade wielder stuff, or is it some other past experience?"

"A little bit of both, really," Xion admitted with a shrug. "Ven's told me that Keyblade wielders can sense the darkness and light inside of a person, sometimes with little effort after getting enough practice, but I've been tracking down Heartless the old fashioned way for a bit longer than that."

"Where'd you pick up the skills to do that, because even I'm having a hard time finding them, and I was trained to be able to find any kind of target imaginable," Natasha asked.

Xion froze up a little after hearing that question. She was pretty sure that she knew all of this due to some old instincts and what little she could remember from her time with Organization XIII, but after all that she and the others had told the Avengers, she was not sure if she wanted to divulge that information to them right now. Sure, they mentioned that she and Roxas had been tricked into joining a dangerous group, but they never specifically stated that it was the Organization, so Xion was not really sure how to answer without bringing it up.

Thankfully, she did not have to, as her hesitance proved answer enough for Black Widow, who softly asked, "This was something that had to do with that group you and your brother were tricked into joining, doesn't it?"

"…Yeah," Xion nodded sadly. "I don't really remember much about my time with them, aside from some moments that I spent with Roxas and our only real friend from that group, but I do know that a lot of our assignments from them involved tracking down and destroying Heartless."

"Why would a dangerous group want something like the Heartless destroyed though," Falcon asked.

"Probably didn't want any competition, or because the Heartless were just as big of a threat to them as they are to everyone else," Cap suggested.

"I'm not so sure about that. I feel like there was a…bigger reason or something," Xion admitted. "I just wish I could remember what it was, but at the same time, I don't really want to remember everything on the off-chance that I did something…really bad."

"You're worried that you might find out that you have a lot more red in your ledger than you think, right," Widow simplified for her, getting a curious look from the girl in reply. "Trust me, Xion, I get where you're coming from. My own past isn't really something I like thinking about either."

"Really," Xion asked, now feeling a bit more curious.

"Kid, I'm one of the world's greatest super spies. That's not a title you earn just by getting the best training ever, and being able to do all the cool stuff you would see in the movies. I've done a lot of bad things too, things that landed me on SHIELD's radar in a bad way, and if it weren't for Hawkeye making the choice to give me a chance to turn things around, I would probably still be doing all that stuff. Now, I just want to wipe that red in my ledger out, and being part of this job, this mission, is the best way that I can do that. You on the other hand, you can do a lot more than that, and I get the feeling you'll have better luck in righting your wrongs than I've had with most of mine."

Hearing all of that from Widow, Xion could not help but feel a little better, just because it was nice to know that someone could understand a little bit of what she was going through in her situation. Add in how confident Widow seemed to be about her chances of making up for whatever past mistakes she may have made during her time with the Organization, and Xion could not help but press on with a new spring in her step as they continued following the trail.

The two boys had small smirks on their faces after hearing Widow give Xion that little pep talk. It was always nice to see Natasha's softer side show itself, given how strict and professional she normally kept things, and something about Xion really seemed to have brought it out of the super spy more than normal. Even then, it did not keep them from wondering about the rest of their combined team.

"How do you think the others are doing right now," Falcon eventually asked as he steadily glided above them.

* * *

"This is officially turning into one of the worst days ever," Hawkeye shouted as he ran as fast as he could over the rooftops in an attempt to stay ahead of the multitude of fire blasts that were currently being hurled at him. "Why did I have to end up on the one team where I'm the only Avenger? More importantly, why is it my backup ended up being mostly cartoon goofballs?!"

"Hey, we're right here you know," Roxas snapped in return as he rebounded off of walls and poles in his own attempts at dodging. The biggest difference was that he was retaliating with a few blasts of his own magic, and some powerful swings and throws of one or both of his Keyblades. Sure, his magic was not all that great, but Roxas would like to think that it was fairly decent at least.

"I didn't mean you, kid. I was talking about them," Hawkeye clarified, pointing to Donald and Goofy after he shot down another batch of Red Nocturnes. He had to duck down in order to avoid having his head taken off by a Heartless that Roxas identified as a Tailbunker, but even as he notched another arrow to fire, he still kept on complaining about his teammates. "It's nothing personal. I do get that they're supposed to not be exactly the same as their cartoon counterparts that I know about, but I'm still not entirely confident about our chances here."

"See, you claim that it's not personal, but after hearing all of that, I can't help but feel that it kind of is," Roxas countered as he leapt up and cut down the Tailbunker that Hawkeye had managed to nick the wing of before spinning around and blasting the Aerial Viking that had been hiding behind it.

It turned out to be a lot more than just one Aerial Viking though, and both archer and dual Keyblade wielder would have ended up getting bashed by a few of them had Goofy not jumped in the way to deflect their attacks with his shield. The knight then threw out a hard swing that sent the attacking Aerial Vikings skyward, where they were then struck down by an impressive rain of lightning bolts that made Hawkeye think Thor had just arrived, until he turned to see Donald standing behind them with his staff raised up and a smug look on his face. The magician then turned his staff on the remaining enemies and fired several more blasts of magic that knocked out a good majority of the remaining Heartless, and any straggler he did not finish off were swiftly dealt with by Goofy and his mighty shield.

"Still think our odds are bad," Donald smirked to Hawkeye as he crossed his arms in confidence.

"No, not at all, sir," Hawkeye quickly assured him, now really impressed with the two's actions. He then noticed something coming at them out of the corner of his eye, and turned to see another wave of Heartless bounding over the roofs towards them. "Heads up, gang. Looks like we're not done yet," the archer informed them. "Might want to prepare for quite a storm."

The others all assumed battle ready positions, but only Donald said something in reply to Hawkeye's observations, and he did so while spinning his staff around in dramatic fashion. "Haven't you figured it out yet, Hawkeye," Donald asked. "I am the storm."

Hearing that latest movie-like line come from his friend and how epic it sounded in his altered voice, Roxas could not help but relax his guard a little as he turned to Donald and asked, "Seriously, have you really been saying things like that this whole time?"

Hawkeye would not admit it, but he was wondering the same thing as Ventus. Sure, he had seen a lot of the old Disney cartoons, but right now, he was wondering if Donald's lines would have sounded just as epic if his voice had been the way it was right now. He figured that it would be something to think about later on, and instead just prepared hit the controls on his bow that would prepare another trick arrow that he was certain would take out a number of the incoming Heartless all at once. Right when he was about to pull the arrow from his quiver though, something suddenly bashed into hard enough to send him flying across the roof that they were all currently standing on. Turning to where Hawkeye was, Goofy started rushing over to check on the archer when that same thing knocked him off his feet too.

"What the…" was all Roxas managed to say before the strange being that was attacking them slammed into him as well, only this time, they saw a bit more of a blue and silver blur passing by them when Roxas was hit.

"Hey, what's the big idea," Donald shouted angrily as he waved his staff around in an attempt to ward off whatever entity that was attacking him and his friends. Needless to say, it was unsuccessful, and Donald was knocked aside just like the others.

Hawkeye was just starting to get up again when the blur appeared before him again, only to slow down and solidify into a full person who was now just casually walking past them with a smug smirk on his face. Clint did not know who this kid was, and his attire did not really provide many more clues either, but he was pretty sure that the guy was probably with HYDRA, be it by choice or for some other reason. It did make a lot of sense, seeing as HYDRA was the only organization that anyone knew of that could create enhanced people, and often did so intentionally, but judging by how young the boy appeared to be, Hawkeye was pretty sure that the kid had not been given all the honest facts when he made his choice. That did not mean he was any less irritated by the brat's smug remark.

"You didn't see that coming," the boy quipped to the archer before he suddenly took off again, once again becoming a blur of blue and silver when he did, just avoiding the blast of magic that Roxas had thrown at him by a few seconds.

Dismissing Oathkeeper for the moment, Roxas hurried over to Hawkeye so that he could help the Avenger up, and quickly asked, "Who or what the heck was that?"

"Couldn't tell you on the 'who;' I've never seen him before. As for the 'what,' I can only think of one thing," Hawkeye replied. He then tapped the comm. device in his ear so that he could contact the rest of his teammates, and reported, "Hawkeye to Avengers; might want to be on your toes, because it looks like HYDRA's making a play. We just had a run-in with an enhanced that tossed us all over the rooftop. Be on the lookout for a boy with silver hair dressed in a blue runner's outfit. He's fast enough to be there and gone in the blink of an eye."

 _"Understood, Hawkeye. We'll keep an eye out,"_ Captain America's voice responded over the radio.

Hawkeye was about to press on again when he noticed how Roxas had just crossed his arms in silent contemplation and grew curious. "Something on your mind, kid?"

"Yeah. Why is it that we're the only ones who have encountered someone like that so far? And why did he only show up when that really big group of Heartless did," Roxas poised to the group.

"How the hell would I know," Hawkeye asked.

"I think I know what you're gettin' at, Roxas. You're thinking that maybe that fella is the one leading the Heartless, at least in this area or something," Goofy realized.

"Exactly," Roxas confirmed.

"But what would give you that idea," Hawkeye asked.

"Remember how we told you and the others how Xion and I used to be part of a really bad group before we met Ven and the others," Roxas asked, getting a nod in reply as a signal for him to continue. "Well, one of the things that group had us do the most of was tracking down Heartless and who or whatever their leader was. I may not remember much about that time, but I do know that the number of Heartless had a tendency to increase the closer we got to their boss."

"So since that big swarm showed up right when Speedy Gonzales did, that must mean he's pulling their strings," Hawkeye reasoned out.

"Well it does make sense based on what I can remember from back then," Roxas confirmed.

"Okay, then we need to get after that kid as soon as possible," Hawkeye stated, more than ready to leap into action until he looked back at the large number of Heartless still swarming towards them and deflated a little. "And I get the feeling that these guys aren't going to make that easy for us."

"Only if we all stick together," Donald pointed out. "You two go after the speedster. Me and Goofy will take care of these big palookas."

"You sure, Donald," Roxas asked. "I mean, that's a lot of Heartless."

"Aw phooey. We can handle them easily," Donald waved off in full confidence.

Hawkeye and Roxas took that in for all of a minute, before they both shrugged to one another and said, "Okay then."

With that said, the two raced off to track down their speedy foe, leaving Donald and Goofy to handle the Heartless heading their way. Not that they did not spare at least a few shots for the dark creatures as well so that the two would have a lighter load to handle, but Hawkeye did make it a point to eliminate the HYDRA troops that were also coming in with the Heartless once he saw them trying to discreetly sneak past him and his Keyblade partner. Once they had broken through, the two were able to find a few clues on where the mystery speedster went, and immediately followed the trail, each of them hoping that this whole mess would be dealt with once they had taken down the enhanced in question.

* * *

"This is the coolest thing ever! You know, aside from the HYDRA terrorists and Heartless attacking the city," Spider-Man cheered as he swung through the air, webbing up bad guys left and right so that they would be vulnerable to either his, Iron Man, or Sora's next attacks. "Not only am I having a reunion team-up with one of my favorite Keyblade-wielding heroes, but we're also partners with Iron Man!"

Sora could only beam widely in response to hearing Spidey call him his favorite Keyblade wielder, even if there was a chance that he was just saying that, but that did not mean he did not have anything else to say about his old friend's statement. "You must really look up to Iron Man a lot."

"Well who wouldn't," Spidey asked. "Mister Stark's not just a great superhero. He's also one of the smartest men in the world, rich, famous, and everyone loves him."

"Hey, I wouldn't go that far, kid," Iron Man disputed as he blasted another HYDRA goon into unconsciousness before turning his repulsors to evaporate another Heartless. "I'm pretty sure that my board members are usually not too happy with me, and last I checked, a good number of my competitors don't like me either. And don't even get me started on Justin Hammer or any of the other bad guys I've dealt with before."

"The keyword in that last one was 'bad guys,' and they don't really count that much. They're supposed to hate heroes," Spidey waved off, getting nods of agreement from both Sora and Stark. "None of that changes the fact that you're the best hero ever. Like, the first superhero of the modern age, even. Ever since that big press conference you had a few years ago when you announced your secret identity to the world after taking down Iron Monger."

"Wait, what," Sora exclaimed in surprise, having thought up until now that people only knew Tony Stark was Iron Man because someone had found out and blabbed. He was not opposed to people knowing who he was whenever he was saving worlds, but last he checked superheroes were not supposed to tell anyone, let alone the whole world their secret identity unless it was absolutely necessary or if the person they were telling was someone they trusted. "Why would you do that?"

"You mean besides the fact that secret identities are just weird and really bothersome, in my opinion," Tony asked as he landed alongside the two on a rooftop. They had paused in their flight across the city to catch their breath and let Tony's armor systems recharge a little bit, and with very few to no enemies in their current location, there did not seem to be any harm in stopping for a quick conversation. "I've never been afraid to hide who I am from the world. Sure, I've been afraid of people getting a certain image of me, or letting others see me at weaker or less pleasing moments, but I'm a genius, billionaire playboy philanthropist with his own company and who built the most advanced super armor on the planet. I've got a target on my back even without people knowing I was a superhero. Announcing that I was Iron Man to the world just helps to make sure everyone knows not to mess with me, and it shows that I'm willing to do more to make the world a safer place than just sit in an office all day signing checks and filling out paperwork."

"Not to mention that it's another way to show that he's determined to not let his company and tech be used in the weapons business ever again," Spidey added on.

"Yeah, there's that too, I guess," Tony confessed, earning another confused look from Sora. "A lot of the money my family's company gained over the years was from working in the weapons industry, especially since my father helped with the Manhattan project and worked alongside of Cap during World War II. He even made Cap's shield and was a founder of SHIELD, but after nearly being killed by one of my own weapons and seeing the soldiers I had built those weapons for being gunned down by terrorists that somehow got their hands on said weapons, you can't help getting a change in perspective."

"Huh," Sora hummed in acknowledgment. He was not too fond of the fact that Tony's company had gotten rich from making weapons for people, but it was nice to hear Tony was turning things around for the better. Still he was confused on one thing. "If your weapons are really that good, how'd you manage to survive nearly being killed by one of them?

"Well in a way, you can thank my very first suit of Iron Man armor for that," Tony replied. "I may save a lot of lives as Iron Man, but the truth is Iron Man's saved my life more than a few times as well, whether it's the full suit, or just part of it."

"Which is really impressive considering he built his first suit in a cave with a box of scraps," Spidey revealed.

"Seriously," Sora gasped in awe.

"Hey, don't get too excited. It wasn't anything as impressive as my current armors, be it the one I'm wearing now, or any of the other ones I've built since getting back from that impromptu siesta. It couldn't fly and didn't have repulsor tech in it, but I will admit, it was pretty impressive, considering what I had to work with," Tony admitted.

"Wow. Now that's scary smart," Sora complimented.

"If you think that's impressive, you should see the stuff that Web-Head here's been able to do just from a little dumpster diving," Tony remarked as he indicated Spidey. "I may have built all my own suits, but everything after that first one was made using the resources and money I get from my family's company. This kid here, he had to make do with stuff he could find in his basement, or whatever junk he happened to find lying around that seemed useful, and it was all really impressive."

"Really," Sora asked.

"My original costume was basically a hoodie, sweat pants, boots, and a pair of goggles with a crappy mask, while my web-shooters were clunky, gauntlets. You have no idea how happy I was when Mister Stark showed up and offered to give me the much needed upgraded to what you see now," Spider-Man informed his other-worldly friend.

Sora was about to ask Tony why he would help Spider-Man like that, when suddenly, a new wave of multiple Heartless suddenly appeared before them. "Looks like we're going to have to talk more a little later."

"Right; to be continued," Iron Man agreed as he charged his repulsors to fire, proving his suit was back at full power again.

"A shame that the same cannot be applied for your life, Stark. Your reckoning is finally at hand," a heavily accented voice declared from the shadows, and for a moment, the three almost thought that it was the speedster that Hawkeye had called in about earlier. At least until they realized that the voice was that of a woman's.

Turning around, the three came face to face with a young woman decked out in a black dress and an old-looking, red jacket, and judging by the sneer on her otherwise lovely face, she was certainly not here to make friends with any of them, least of all the person she was directing both her previous comment and angry look towards. What really set off warning bells for the three boys was the fact that there seemed to be weird, red energy tendrils of some kind floating about her, giving her already dangerous aura an extra edge; that was especially true when they noticed how most of this energy seemed to be focused around her hands like she was using it to power up an attack of some kind, but Sora could sense something else from her that made several shivers go up his spine.

Tony and Spider-Man must not have noticed Sora's sudden discomfort, as they were already busy addressing the woman in red before them. "Miss, I'm not sure what your problem is with me, but I'm sure that we can work something out if we talk things out after," Tony advised, sounding like he was making light of the situation despite the undercurrent of honest concern. "Namely, after we've dealt with the current crisis of the city being invaded by HYDRA and a bunch of dangerous monsters. So, if you could just move to somewhere a little safer, that would make things easier for us in the…"

"There's nothing for us to discuss, Stark," the woman snarled before Tony could continue further. "You took everything from both me and my brother. Now, we have the power to make you pay, and make sure that no one else will suffer for your sins as we have."

"Whoa, hey! Let's not get too crazy now," Spidey stepped in. "I'm sure whatever you think Mister Stark did is all just a big misunderstanding."

"Oh, that's where you're wrong, Spider. After all, when one of the bombs that destroyed your home has its creators name painted onto the side clear as day, there's very little room for misunderstandings," the woman revealed.

Hearing that drew surprised gasps from all three heroes, and Spidey and Sora could not help but turn furtive glances towards Iron Man. They were not wondering if he had actually bombed this girl's home; they were sure that Tony would not do that kind of thing, personally or otherwise. What they were concerned with was how Tony would react. This girl was laying down a very serious accusation, and given how he would react over his company's weapons and tech falling into the wrong hands to be used for evil purposes, they had to wonder if Tony would be okay or end up just attacking out of a sense of denial.

Thankfully, Tony did not attack her, but instead was having his armor run various scans of the girl before him. One set of scans was to identify the energy she was giving off, while the other was to further his attempts at identifying this mystery girl. When he did, he was startled at what he found out, not because he knew the girl, but because he recognized the name of her home country. "You're from Sokovia," Tony gasped.

"Where," Spidey and Sora both asked, not recognizing the name at all.

"It's a small, land-locked nation that was victim to several bombings for years, and most of its populous isn't too fond of many of the larger world governments. The only things they like less than them are SHIELD and yours truly, which by extension, makes them hate the Avengers," Tony explained. "You and your family were caught in the bombings, weren't you?"

"My brother and I were orphaned the minute that one of your bombs collapsed our apartment, burying us in the rubble while killing our parents. Pietro pulled us under the bed just before a second shell hit, but it never went off. It just sat there in the rubble, three feet from our faces, and on the side of the shell was painted one word: Stark," the woman explained from there, her eyes turning as crimson as the energy around her, while a second, darker aura seemed to flare around her. "We were trapped for two days, and every effort to save us, every shift in the bricks, I would think 'this will set it off.' We waited for two days for you to kill us, Tony Stark. Your failure to do so allowed HYDRA to give us just what we needed to make you pay."

"Normally, I'd try to explain the flaw in your leap of logic, but if you're really with HYDRA, then I take it that means you're leading this little attack along with Hawkeye's speedy friend. So, I'm going to make this simple: stand down. This is the last time I'm going to ask nicely," Tony warned, his repulsors now clearly humming with life.

"Mister Stark," Spidey started to protest, only to be interrupted by the woman in red.

"No Stark. You will pay for what you did. This Scarlet Witch will make sure of that," the woman corrected, and the next thing any of them knew, she was floating up from the ground before she released a blast of energy that knocked Iron Man off his feet.

"Iron Man," Sora shouted in worry. He would have rushed over to check on the Avenger, but he was quickly forced onto the defensive when Scarlet Witch began trying to blast him and Spidey as well. To make matters worse, the Heartless began coming after them again, making Sora split his focus between avoiding or blocking Scarlet Witch's blasts and taking down the dwellers of darkness that she was clearly commanding.

Thankfully, Iron Man was not out of the fight for too long, and he had managed to pull himself up again so that he could spare a quick repulsor blast that saved Sora from a Neoshadow's sneak attack. He then used his boot jets to get airborne and start blasting at most of the Heartless surrounding them, while shouting out warnings to his two young teammates. "Watch yourselves around her, kids. That energy she's putting out is like nothing I've ever seen before," Tony cautioned. "The closest comparison I can make is to the energy that Loki's scepter gives off, which would explain part of the source behind how HYDRA gave her those powers. There's something else there though that I can't recognize at all, even through comparisons."

"I know what it is. I've felt this kind of darkness before, namely among people who have been forced to give into the power of the Heartless," Sora revealed to the other two.

"Meaning if we take down the Heartless or do something to snap her out of it, we can get her to stop," Spidey asked.

"Love the optimism, kid, but I'm pretty sure it's not that simple. You don't need to stoke the flames when there's already a roaring fire going," Tony dismissed while blasting a few more aerial Heartless with his repulsors, right when his something else suddenly pinged on his sensors. "Uh JARVIS, what's that coming towards us?"

 _"Exactly what you think it is, sir. HYDRA forces inbound for our location,"_ the AI responded.

"Great. Like we didn't have enough problems. Spider-Man, you and Sora deal with this while I take care of these party-crashers," Tony ordered, and before anyone could say anything, he had already blasted off to intercept the HYDRA troops heading for their location.

Scarlet Witch tried to keep Tony from getting away, but a quick blast of Fira from Sora put a stop to that. Luckily for her, she was able to avoid the fireball before it singed her, but she was still very annoyed that the object of her revenge had escaped her grasp for the moment. Still, she did not let it show, and for the most part, she seemed content with turning her focus onto the two young heroes before her, as evidenced by how she was now blasting Spider-Man and Sora with a new vigor to her attacks.

Spidey mainly focused on dodging the girl's blasts while taking out Heartless wherever he could, making it clear where he was putting his focus. As he fought, Sora could also hear Spidey shouting out various commands that seemed to activate various features in his suit, among which included electrified webbing that destroyed several Heartless the minute they were hit. The number of falling Heartless grew even more when Spidey fired off several blasts of web bullets at once, sometimes in several different directions, and this trend continued on and on from there, leaving Sora amazed at how much more Spidey seemed to be able to do. It was not just with his webs though, as Spider-Man was spinning and flipping from one enemy to the next as he landed several hard punches and kicks that would often times destroy a Heartless in just one strike, and when they did not, he easily spun or slid around the enemy in question to quickly land an attack from behind that did the job. Seeing all of this from the web-head made Sora think that Spider-Man must have been holding back during all the times he had summoned the wall-crawler on his last journey, or that his abilities had somehow been watered down from his being turned into a summon charm.

Not that Sora was slacking off so that he could just watch Spidey fight. On the contrary, the Keyblade warrior was fighting just as hard as Spider-Man, and it showed in how he was easily destroying any Heartless that dared to cross him, be it with standard attacks or magic. At some points, Sora even used one or two of his Shotlocks, if for no other reason than to make the crowd they were dealing with a little more manageable, until eventually, he finally unleashed the power of his Destiny Blaze Command Style so that he could hit harder and faster than ever. Unlike Spider-Man though, Sora was not just dealing with the Heartless; he was also fighting Scarlet Witch as well, feeling that it would be a big help in the long run if they beat her here and now, and not just for them either. Sora knew very well what that kind of darkness could do to a person, and if he was right in thinking that the Heartless' power was forced onto her, then it was imperative that he do everything he can to help her.

Scarlet Witch was proving to be a very difficult opponent to fight though, even while Sora was using his Command Style. Given all that he had seen since coming to Marvel Universe, Sora was not sure what percentage of her power and skill could be attributed to the darkness that was overtaking her, and what amount was just her own power and skills. The only thing he knew for sure was that she was definitely angry with Iron Man, and justifiably so if her story was true, but behind that anger, Sora could also see something else in her eyes: fear. It was very obvious that something about all of this scared her, and the next time he got in close for an attack, Sora could swear that he saw a lone tear escape from her eye, indicating that she was far from happy with having this new power.

"Listen to me," Sora pleaded with her while he held his Keyblade against the shield she was using to keep him back. "The power of darkness is not something you want to mess with, especially if it's the kind that comes from the Heartless. I've seen what it does to people; how it can destroy them, and how it nearly cost my best friend his life. You need to fight it off before it destroys you."

"Don't act like you really care," Scarlet Witch growled. "No one who allies with Stark truly cares about the people who have been crushed underfoot."

"I care a lot more than you know," Sora insisted as he continued pushing, only to break off with a mighty leap and then aim his Keyblade so that he could freeze her in place with some ice magic. "The last thing I ever want is to see other people suffer, and if I can do something to stop that, then I'll gladly do everything I can to make it happen."

"You think others haven't tried before," Scarlet Witch asked. "You think I haven't tried to do something else before resorting to this? This is all I know! I won't let Stark and the Avengers destroy the world anymore than they already have!"

"If you side with HYDRA like this, you'll do a lot worse than destroy the world," Spider-Man informed her. "Do you really think they care about anything other than furthering their own goals? They don't care if they're playing with fire so long as they get what they want, and trust me, the Heartless are a fire that you do not want to even think about playing with."

Scarlet Witch did not listen, and instead just let out a loud shriek of anger as she blasted another wave of energy at the two, prompting Sora to cast Aerora Shield in an effort to protect both him and Spidey. The wind barriers held up for the most part, but the overwhelming strength of her attack was so incredible, that it ended up causing Sora's spell to be dispersed completely after it struck the spheres. A powerful shockwave seemed to hit both Spidey and Sora after the barrier was broken, and as a result, they were sent hurtling across the street before falling flat on their faces, leaving them struggling to stand again afterwards. Not that it seemed to deter Scarlet Witch at all, as she just marched over with an intent to end them once and for all.

"I've heard more than enough of your lies," she snarled as she powered up her attack, and the boys could do nothing more than shut their eyes in preparation for the worst.

To their surprise, the attack never came, but a loud cry of pain did. Hearing that shout made them open their eyes again, only to see Iron Man had returned from his battle and taken Scarlet Witch's blast for them. When the attack finally ended, Iron Man fell to one knee, panting heavily while his armor sparked with faint electricity from various points of damage. Meanwhile, Scarlet Witch could be seen staring at him in open surprise, hardly believing that Tony had taken an attack meant for someone else.

"What…Why would you," she barely managed to stutter.

"Because I made a promise to not waste my life and do a better job in protecting the world we live in, Wanda," Iron Man gasped, surprising the girl a little more given her soft gasp. "That is your name, right? Wanda…Maximoff, isn't it?"

"Y…Yes," Wanda hesitantly confirmed.

"Listen Wanda, whether you believe me or not, I am telling you the truth when I say that I never wanted any innocents to be hurt by my tech, even when I was making weapons. I'm not perfect. Hell, I'm so far from that it's laughable, but I'm trying to be better than I was before the events that led to my becoming Iron Man. I'm sorry for what happened to you and your brother, and if you want to take your hatred out on me, that's fine, just so long as you leave anyone else out of it, especially Spidey."

"Why do you care so much if I leave him out of it or not," Wanda asked.

"Because I know that he _can_ be better than I am, or likely ever will be," Iron Man confessed. "He's always been incredibly bright for his age, even before I first met him face-to-face, but more than that, he's got a solid code of morals. When I first asked him why he does all of this, you know what he said to me? I'll never forget it. He said, 'When you can do the things that I can, but you don't, and then the bad things happen, they happen because of you.' Even when he's getting into huge city or world saving things like this or anything else the Avengers deal with, Spidey always goes right back to helping out the little guys, because there's no such thing as a small time problem in his eyes. He sees something wrong going on, and he's always one of the first ones there to try and help out, even if you don't want him to. That alone makes him someone that I can admire. Not because of his intelligence or skills, which are admittedly impressive, but because first and foremost, he is and always will be your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man."

Hearing such a passionate and honest speech like that left all three of the remaining combatants in varying degrees of shock. Wanda because after living so much of her life hating Tony Stark, she would never have believed that he could believe something so strongly, or that he would be willing to go so far for someone as he did just now. It just did not line up with the image she had of Stark at all. Sora was shocked because after hearing all that Spidey had told him and the Keyblade Legion about Iron Man and the Avengers, he would not have thought it possible for one the superhero team's members to think so highly of someone that normally dealt with small time stuff in the way that Spidey did. He got over his surprise pretty quickly though, mainly because Sora had seen firsthand what Spider-Man was capable of after all the time they had worked together on his last journey, and even if that time was really limited, he knew that Iron Man was right in his beliefs.

Spidey was just downright stunned. Here was one of his greatest heroes, basically singing his praises to the heavens like he was the greatest thing that ever lived. It was certainly a change of pace in comparison to the critiques he usually received from others, but coming from Tony, it held a lot more weight than he could even hope to imagine. For once in his life, Spidey was completely speechless. However sweet the moment might have been, it was quickly ruined when Wanda suddenly let out a loud shriek, not of anger, but of pain, and that got Sora and Spidey back on their guard, with Iron Man now struggling to try and stand up straight.

The three heroes could not help but watch as Wanda clutched her head, crying in agony while the aura of darkness around her seemed like it was trying to assert its power over her in any way that it could, and to make matters worse, it seemed like her powers were lashing out uncontrollably because of her struggle against it. All around them, destruction was raining down on the city from the blasts of scarlet red energy that Wanda was projecting, and while it was destroying several Heartless as a side effect, that proved to be a very small bright side in the grander scope of things.

After screaming until the point where it seemed like she would lose her voice, Wanda looked to the three heroes and hoarsely croaked out as best as she could, "Please…Help…Help me. I can't…I can't stop it!"

Another explosion of energy burst forth from Wanda with that last sentence, prompting Sora and Spidey to try and shield themselves with their arms. Iron Man was not quite as lucky, because while his armor did prevent him from being thrown back like a loose flag in a powerful wind, he was still knocked off his feet by the blast all the same, much to Spider-Man and Sora's concern. They would have rushed over to him, had Iron Man not waved for them to stop so he could give them a different set of orders.

"Don't worry about me," Iron Man shouted over the raging winds that were now being stirred up by Wanda's powers. "Just do whatever you can to save her!"

Looking back over at Scarlet Witch from where Iron Man was, Sora and Spidey had a feeling that was going to be a lot easier said than done. Good thing they both specialized in dealing with situations like that. In an instant, the two had set to work, battling it out against the Heartless and the out-of-control Scarlet Witch with everything they had, their teamwork proving to be just as strong now as it was when they had last met almost a year ago. One could argue that it was even better though, as Spidey was now using all the special settings on his web-shooters to help even things out as well, and Sora eventually added an extra edge both with the help of his Destiny Blaze Command Style, and once that had run its course, he kept it going with the assistance of Valor Form. Between the combined powers of these two, it was more amazing that anyone could have stood a smidgen of a chance, and it only got better as time went on.

Watching them work, even Wanda had to admit that she was impressed and amazed at how right they were proving Tony to be, because they were not just focused on fighting her and these monsters she had been forced to command for this whole thing. Several times, she saw Spidey break off from the fight to pull a random civilian to safety before they could be hurt, and Sora use some of his magic to prevent innocents from being crushed by falling rubble. They did not just do it when it was convenient either; they would go to save all these people even if it put them at risk of being hit by an enemy attack, and that certainly spoke volumes to Wanda about how truthful Tony was being earlier. The thing that really impressed everyone though, was what had come the moment Sora and Spidey were gearing up for one final attack.

After destroying another Heartless and ending up back-to-back with Spidey, Sora could feel a new energy building inside of him, and upon looking down at himself, he saw that a brilliant gold aura had begun to cover his body and Keyblade. A quick glance at Spidey allowed him to see that the web-head was also being covered in this aura, and at that moment, Sora grinned, knowing exactly what was going on. "Alright! Looks like we've formed a Command Link, Spidey," he cheered.

"A what," Spider-Man asked, completely bewildered by what was going on.

"Just think of it as an ultimate team-up move for the two of us, and go with whatever happens," Sora simplified as best as he could while readying his Keyblade for action.

"Okay, sure. I can work with that," Spider-Man agreed, grinning under his mask as he felt a new power start to flow through him as he took his ready stance.

The next thing anyone knew, Sora and Spidey had blitzed through at least half of the remaining Heartless with a series of high-speed attacks that were almost invisible to the naked eye, and any monsters that were not destroyed found themselves trapped in some very tough webbing or bindings made of light energy. Wanda ended up being one of the ones who was trapped by the latter and considering how said bindings seemed to be weakening the dark powers that were trying to claw their way into her, she was not complaining. A second later, Spidey had leapt high into the air, spinning around as fast as he could while attaching a web-line to Sora, giving the Keyblade Warrior a little extra pull when his next attacks came down after Spider-Man's did. The result was the destruction of nearly every airborne Heartless that was still in the area, and several more Heartless being wiped out by the shockwave that erupted when the two hit the ground again.

Their combined attack was not done though, but they were definitely about to bring things home when they felt the energy of their Command Link reaching its peak, and they quickly came to stand side-by-side with one another. A second later, Spidey had launched himself forward while attaching another strong web-line onto Sora, and the two then proceeded to land several attacks while using the web-line to pull the other in for another one that proved stronger than the last one that they had landed. First it was Spidey landing a strong but fast kick then he pulled Sora in so that he could land a slash with his Keyblade, and after following up with another swing of his blade, Sora pulled Spidey back into things, allowing the web-head to land a hard, flying punch. A quick pair of spin kicks soon followed after in Spidey's end of the assault, while Sora catapulted himself into the air, so that when Spidey gave their connecting web-line another pull, the Keyblade Warrior was drawn in for a powerful, downward strike that created a powerful shockwave of energy.

Under this tremendous force of attacks, Wanda could not remain standing for very long, and was thus thrown flying backwards through the air when their last attack connected. Luckily, she ended up relatively unscathed, but she was more relieved by the other thing that had resulted from taking that last hit. Whatever darkness was inside of her, Wanda could now feel that it was all gone, and she could not help smiling a little in thanks to the two who had blasted it out of her.

Sora and Spider-Man were doing a fair amount of smiling too, even as the aura from their new Command Link faded out, but sadly, now was not the time to relax. There was still some work to do, as Iron Man soon reminded them as he came to stand between the two boys. "Not bad, kids," Tony praised. "Looks like that last attack of yours has made this part of the city a Heartless-free zone. Now we just have to hope that the others are able to take care of their sectors."

 _"I wouldn't be so sure of that, sir,"_ JARVIS said. _"Recent scans show that defeating Miss Maximoff has eliminated a good number of the Heartless attacking the city, while any stragglers have already been swiftly dealt with by Colonel Rhodes' group."_

Tony was just about to ask JARVIS for confirmation on whether or not he heard that right, when Rhodey's voice suddenly sounded over his suit's comm. system. _"Hey Tony, a lot of the Heartless that we were fighting just now suddenly turned to smoke or vanished, and I'm pretty sure only a few of them did so because of Thor's lightning and Ven's fancy light-sword move."_

 _"It's called the Wingblade Command Style,"_ Ventus could be heard shouting at War Machine from somewhere in the background.

 _"Was that you guys,"_ Rhodey continued on.

"Yeah, looks like," Tony confirmed. "Now we just have Cap and Legolas's teams to worry about."

"Might be a little harder for Hawkeye's team to do that since they've got to worry about that speedster who's leading another group," Spider-Man pointed out, while clueing Sora in on who Stark was talking about when he mentioned the name Legolas.

Wanda looked over at the three heroes for a minute, thinking about all that had been said and done just now, until she finally let out quiet, resigned sigh and spoke up, getting their attention. "He's just fast, not invincible," she revealed to the heroes. "Quicksilver…Pietro's speed allows him to move faster than the speed of sound, but he's still just as vulnerable to injury as any other man if he's not careful of where he runs. He also has moments where he tends to be overconfident a great deal of the time, and that's his greatest weakness."

The three just stared at Wanda for a minute, questioning whether or not they should believe her and if this was truly an attempt at helping them on her part. Not that it was hard to blame them for such skepticism, considering that she was just fighting them a minute ago, but from what they had gathered, she did seem like she was just a victim in all this madness too, and the look in her eyes indicated that she truly regretted what she did.

Taking another minute to weigh the validity of her claim, Tony decided to relay the information to Hawkeye's team, only to receive a pretty surprising reply. _"Yeah, we figured that out already, but you've got nothing to worry about, Stark."_

"Why not," Tony asked.

* * *

"Me and Roxas have already got Quicksilver under wraps," Hawkeye replied with a smirk on his face, making a few little adjustments to one of his arrows while he and Roxas stood proudly over a downed Pietro who was tied up from nearly head to toe. Roxas had even gone an extra mile in securing the speedster's feet in ice, just to make sure that he could not run even if he broke free of the cables wrapped around him, but he did not really need to do much beyond that than knock out any overabundance of darkness that was allowing Quicksilver to remain in control of some of the Heartless.

"So, how does it feel to know that you got taken down by a guy with a bow and arrow, tough guy," Roxas asked with a little smugness in his tone. When Pietro just glared back at the blonde, Roxas just had to quip, "What? You didn't see that coming?"

"Shut up," Pietro retorted.

"Hey, don't be a sore loser, kid. It can be bad for your health. Just ask Stark, or Thor, or really half of the team," Hawkeye playfully scolded.

"If you two are done making fun of the poor kid, how about you help us deal with what's left of these Heartless," Donald shouted over from where he was.

"Calm down, Donald. We're coming," Roxas reassured his friend as he rushed over to where Goofy and the magician in question were still fighting.

"Now we just need to figure out how to stop all of this for good, because last I checked, we still haven't found a source for these things," Hawkeye commented as he readied the arrow he was adjusting and fired it at a random Heartless.

 _"Maybe you didn't, but we did,"_ Black Widow reported. _"Xion was able to track the Heartless back to the Sokovian Embassy and a quick little search helped us to find plenty of evidence linking the country to HYDRA."_

 _"Well, isn't that interesting. Seems our two enhanced are from Sokovia,"_ Iron Man reported to the others.

 _"That's a bit too much of a coincidence,"_ Captain America noted.

* * *

"Yeah, you can say that again, old man," Iron Man agreed before he looked to Wanda, knowing that she would have a few answers to the new questions he had. "Is that where you and your brother got your fancy powers? Back in home sweet home?"

"Yes," Wanda confirmed. "HYDRA has a base in Sokovia where they performed many experiments. Most volunteers did not survive. Pietro and I are the only ones who did."

"And how is it that your powers share an energy signature with Loki's scepter," Iron Man questioned.

"Probably because that's where they came from," Wanda admitted, surprising Iron Man. "Every experiment that they did in that program was in search of a way to harness the power of that scepter in others. They believed that it held more power than was demonstrated during the Battle of New York. Seems they were right."

Hearing that, Iron Man did not need to think twice before he relayed his next orders. "Wrap up with what's left of the Heartless and then meet back at the tower, Avengers. We're heading to Sokovia as soon as we're done here."

 _"Any particular reason for this journey, Stark,"_ Thor questioned.

"That's where HYDRA has Loki's scepter," Tony answered as simply as he could, knowing that would be all that any of the team needed to hear to be okay with this mission, especially in the case of Thor.

"Wait," Wanda called out, getting the heroes' attention again. "The person who gave us the power to command those creatures will likely be there too. You cannot miss him. He looks and sounds just like that big, fat cat-man from the Mickey Mouse cartoons."

"'Big, fat cat-man,'" Spidey repeated in question.

"Pete," Sora growled in recognition a second after. "Looks like we'll be going with you."

"I'd be disappointed if you didn't, Sora," Iron Man admitted. "Besides, having you and Spidey along might be a big help if you guys can do that little Command Linking thing again."

"It's called a Command Link," Sora corrected. "The Spectacular Marvel Command Link."

"Seriously? That's what you're going with for the move's name," Spider-Man asked.

"Hey, don't look at me. These things name themselves. Why? What would you have called it?"

"I don't know. How about…Ultimate Web," Spider-Man offered.

"What about Slinger Sting," Sora countered.

"Key Web."

"Oh! Spell Binder!"

"Shinning Avenger?"

Sora had to pause for little at that last one, before he finally admitted, "Okay, that one's pretty good. Maybe if I ever form a Command Link with one or a bunch of the other Avengers in the future it'll be called that."

"Hey guys! Workshop later; head to the tower for our mission now," Iron Man interrupted.

"Right. Coming," both boys answered and they quickly started to follow after him.

Sora had just formed his Keyblade Glider when he looked back to Wanda and saw her struggling to stand up. Moving over so that his flying motorbike was hovering next to her, Sora held out a hand to the girl and asked, "Are you coming with us?"

Wanda looked at Sora like he had suddenly grown two heads, and reminded him, "I was just trying to kill you and your friends, and you want me to join you on a mission to stop HYDRA?"

"Well, we can't exactly let you go free," Iron Man pointed out. "Besides, HYDRA are snakes in a lot of different ways, so I'm sure that we could spin a few stories to sell the fact you weren't entirely in agreement with all this insanity. But just to be clear, you won't be joining us on the mission. If anything, we'll be leaving you at the tower under heavy surveillance while we deal with that HYDRA base."

Wanda was still seemed hesitant to accept this offer, until Spidey came over to her and said, "I know you've got a lot of baggage with Mister Stark and how he does things, but staying at Avengers Tower has got to be better than being out on the streets and having to fend for yourself, right? Besides, you might find that things with them are a lot better than you ever thought they could be, so why not give it a try?"

Seeing how eagerly they all were at the thought of her coming with them, even if it was so she could be placed on what was basically house-arrest, Wanda eventually gave in, accepted the hand that Sora was offering to her, and allowed the boy to pull her onto his Keyblade Glider. "Not like I've got a better option," Wanda shrugged once she was on. Upon wrapping her arms around Sora to ensure she would not fall off during the flight, she did give the Keyblade warrior a playful warning. "Just don't get any ideas, kid. I'm pretty sure that I'm a little too old for you, even by Sokovian standards."

Even though his face did turn a little red at Wanda's implication, Sora managed to shrug it off and say, "That's okay. I've already got a great girlfriend."

Hearing that drew a smile onto Wanda's face that she was sure was bigger than any she had ever given to anyone or anything in years. Not only that, but it also felt much more pure and relaxed than any she could remember making in an even longer time, and she could not help but mentally thank Sora for giving her this feeling. Tony also shared in those smiles from behind the mask of his helmet, but all the same, he kept on task as he allowed Spider-Man to hang onto him for the flight back to the tower while relaying a few more orders.

"Alright everybody, we're going to be going in hot when we get to Sokovia, because if that is where they're keeping Loki's scepter, you can bet that it's going to be packed with some heavy security and artillery. In short, we can't afford to give any less than our absolute best on this one," Tony informed the others.

 _"Does that mean what I think it does, Tony,"_ Bruce asked.

"You bet it does, Banner. Start getting angry. I'm calling a Code Green for this one," Iron Man confirmed.

"Code Green? What does that mean," Sora asked.

"You'll find out pretty soon," Spider-Man answered as cryptically as you can imagine.

* * *

A few hours later certainly proved Spidey right when the teams were flying right over Sokovia, but only the Avengers had moved in for the initial attack. The Keyblade Legion on the other hand had remained behind on the superhero team's transport, the Quinjet so that they could be ready to drop in with full strength at a moment's notice in case the Heartless did show up at some point during the confrontation. To everyone's relief, the HYDRA base was in the middle of a forest just outside of the borders of Sokovia's main city, which meant that no one had to worry about collateral damage too much. Not that it stopped HYDRA from firing on the city in an effort to divert the Avengers' attention, but luckily, Iron Man had a response for that in the form of his Iron Legion drones. The only thing more interesting than the flying robotic defense force was the events happening on the ground around the Avengers themselves.

The nine heroes were all showing a great deal of skill and coordination, proving that their teamwork was just as solid in the field as it was in a training ground, and they were also showing that they were able to adapt to their environment pretty well too. Some of them had a harder time than others, with Spider-Man being the most obvious since he was more used to fighting bad guys within the confines of a city. Thankfully, given the heavily wooded area they were in, the web-head was still able to find a way to swing around and take down bad guys like he usually would, but he was still grateful to have the other Avengers watching his back. The only thing that was more attention grabbing for the Keyblade wielders was the change Banner had undergone once he had entered into the fight.

Just after they had arrived in the airspace, Bruce had opened the hatch and jumped out of the plane, making the Keybearers think that he had suddenly become suicidal, at least until his landing made a small crater, and included a very loud roar that almost rivaled that of the Beast's. When the dust had settled, they all saw that Bruce had transformed into a massive, hulking, green rage monster, and he had wasted no time in tearing apart any HYDRA forces that had already been deployed to stop them. What's more, none of the weapons being used against him seemed to be so much as tickling the Hulk, and he then proceeded to barrel through everything in his path like it was made of tissue paper. Seeing how easily Hulk was handling things, the Keyblade Legion had to wonder why the rest of the Avengers were really there, until they realized just how directionless his rampage really was.

"Guess Rhodey wasn't kidding when he said that Bruce has a hard time controlling himself when he's like this," Ventus noted as he watched.

 _"Actually sir, the Hulk is more of a second personality from Dr. Banner, and their relationship is often said to be comparable to Dr Jekyll and Mister Hyde,"_ JARVIS clarified for Ventus.

"Either way, at least we get to just relax and watch the action instead of being caught in the middle of it," Roxas shrugged as he leaned back in his seat. When he saw the others looking at him weirdly, he instantly said, "What? I don't mind fighting bad guys, but you can't tell me it doesn't get a little tiring after a while, can you?"

"He's got a point," Xion shrugged in agreement.

"Just keep in mind that we're not here to just watch as this happens, you two. We need to be keeping an eye out for the Heartless in case they appear," Ventus gently reminded them.

Not even a few seconds after he said that, the monsters in question started crawling and flying about around the castle that the Avengers were heading into. "Speak of the shadows," Sora shrugged as he turned towards the Quinjet's exit, already gearing up in his armor as he went.

"Yep. Probably would've helped if I kept my mouth shut," Ventus agreed. "Donald, you and Goofy stay here and make sure that the jet doesn't crash or something."

"Aye aye," Donald saluted from the pilot's seat.

With that little matter taken care of the Keyblade wielders all followed Sora's lead in armoring up, and quickly leapt from the jet so that they could join the fight. Their landing was not nearly as rough as you would probably have expected, thanks in large part to Ven's use of wind magic, and just like that, the two teams were entering battle together again, with the Keyblade Legion focusing on the Heartless while the Avengers took down the forces of HYDRA. The addition of the Keyblade wielders was so seamless in fact, that you would think that they had been in the fight right from the start, especially with how they each seemed to group up with one another shortly after their arrival.

Xion was quickly fending off several enemies at once while calling out changes in enemy patterns to the rest of the team with Hawkeye and Black Widow, while Roxas had somehow found himself in a three-way competition with Thor and Hulk to see who could take down the most bad guys. Not that the blonde was complaining; he seemed like he was enjoying himself quite a bit. On the other end of things, Ventus and Sora had quickly managed to break into the main base with Iron Man, Falcon, Captain America, and Spider-Man, and together, the five were able to knock out several different lieutenants and leaders while securing an entry/exit for the rest of the team to get through. Things only grew easier when Iron Man found a port that he could use to hack into the base's systems in order to disable the enemy's security and locate their main objectives: the scepter that they were after and the leader of HYDRA himself. As it turned out, the latter of those two was the one that the Keyblade wielders needed to pursue, as Barron Strucker was actually attempting to make his escape alongside of old Pete, much to Sora and Ven's irritation.

Captain America did not even need to ask for the master and apprentice to accompany him in the pursuit of Strucker, but he did make a point to tell Falcon to keep combing through whatever data he could get his hands on in order to find some information regarding another target of theirs while making sure Tony would promise to stay safe when he went after the scepter. Ventus and Sora wanted to ask what it was that Falcon was looking for, but one look at Steve's face told them it was something really personal for the captain, so they decided to keep out of it. There was no need for them to be sticking their noses into something if it made Cap uncomfortable.

Not that they really had time to question anyone about anything right then, because it was just when they came around another corner after splitting up from Iron Man and Falcon that they came face-to-face with their villains. "Oh great. You pipsqueaks again," Pete bemoaned at the sight of the Keyblade wielders. "Don't think that putting on some fancy suits is going to change anything though. You'll still end up falling at the hands of the mighty Pete!" He then had to pause when he felt Strucker giving him a look for his remark, before he hastily added, "And of course, my new friends in HYDRA too."

"Like we really need you to tell us how little our armor changes things in a fight with you," Sora scoffed as he and Ventus both rolled their eyes behind the visors of their helmets. "We already know that we could take you down without even trying, Pete."

That seemed to rile Pete up a little, but Strucker and Captain America paid him little mind, as they were more focused on their own stare down. "Looks like we've finally gotten HYDRA's number one thug," Cap commented.

"Technically, I am a thug for SHIELD," Strucker corrected.

"Well then technically, you're unemployed," Cap easily quipped back. "You should surrender now. We're already on the verge of securing Loki's scepter."

 _"Actually, we're not on the verge. We just_ have _Loki's scepter. It's a bit of a shame that Thor's going to have to take it back to Asgard, because this would make a great souvenir for the trophy room,"_ Iron Man corrected via Steve's radio.

"Correction, we do have Loki's scepter, and all your forces are either down for the count or are just being rounded up as we speak, assuming they haven't been smashed by Hulk," Captain America then informed Strucker.

"Not to mention that the Heartless aren't going to be of much help to either of you now, seeing as our team has likely dealt with them all by now, so it would be a wise move to just surrender," Ventus added on.

"Oh don't worry. I know when I'm beat," Strucker assured them, much to Pete's disbelief.

"I thought you were supposed to be some top-dog of evil-doers," Pete gasped in disbelief.

"I am, and part of that comes from being smart as opposed to arrogant, unlike certain other threats that the Avengers and their little friends have faced in the past," Strucker stated. He then turned his attention back to Captain America and asked, "You will mention how I cooperated, I hope?"

"I'll put it right under illegal experimentation," Captain America informed him, making it clear how unlikely it would be that his sentence would be lightened. "How many are there besides the twins?"

Strucker merely shrugged as he admitted, "They are the only ones. The others were not as…fortunate in the tests."

Hearing Strucker pass that off as though he were talking about an old pair of boots really got under Sora and Ventus's skin, and if it were not for the circumstances and their own moral code, they likely would have outright attacked Strucker for his remark. Pete on the other hand, did not keep quiet, but instead, continued throwing a fit like an upset child over how his side had lost again, until he looked up and pointed at something behind the heroes. "Oh look! A giant robot monster thing," Pete shouted in a panic.

No one needed to see Ventus or Sora's face to know that they were both giving the exact same flat, disbelieving look to the large bully. "Did you seriously think we would actually fall for that," Ventus questioned after a few more minutes.

"Yeah, even Goofy wouldn't fall for it. None of us are that gullible," Sora reminded him. He stopped short of any further critiquing on Pete's distraction strategy when he heard the sound of something big and mechanical moving behind them, and slowly turned to glance back and see what was making the sound. When he did see it, he immediately went stiff, but still managed to maintain enough composure to tap Ven's arm and say, "Uh…Ven…"

"What," Ventus asked as he turned around, only to pause when he saw what had gotten Sora's attention. "Oh…You know, it's moments like this that are the reason why people actually do fall for that 'made-you-look' joke from time to time."

Captain America turned around to figure out what the two were talking about, and was left surprised at what he was seeing. "A Chitauri Leviathan!"

"A who-what-now," Ventus questioned, with Sora silently asking the same thing, despite the fact no one could see his face at the moment.

"The Chitauri are an alien army that had been under Loki's command, and he used them to launch an invasion of Earth, leading to the Battle of New York and, incidentally, the formation of the Avengers," Captain America explained. "And that Leviathan there is one of their most powerful forces. A living warship of destruction that could drop several regular Chitauri troops into the field all while flying around and unleashing whatever destruction it could think of in a single moment. It shouldn't be possible for it to be working though."

"Why not," Sora asked.

"Because Tony had destroyed the base that gave them their commands, disabling all Chitauri at once," Cap explained. "The fact it's so much as moving is impossible."

"Oh, you wanna bet," Pete boasted with a chuckle. "Well as it turns out, there was still just enough of a mind in that thing for a whole mess of hatred and vengeance to build up inside, and that was all that the Heartless needed to power it up again, only this time with the power of darkness. Meaning, in just a few short minutes, your world will be overrun by the all new Chitauri Heartless!"

"That's what you think," Sora shot back, his Keyblade at the ready.

"Stark, did you get all that," Captain America asked.

 _"Loud and clear, and the others are all ready and waiting right outside, so you might want to lead it there,"_ Iron Man reported.

Ventus and Sora did not need Steve to say anything, as they had both already started firing whatever spells they could muster in that moment, drawing the Leviathan's attention onto them as they broke off their attack to turn and make for the exit. Cap watched them go for only a few minutes before turning to Strucker, who looked ready to add a few more remarks. Too bad for the baron, Steve was not in the mood to hear any of it, and he quickly knocked Strucker out with his shield. He would have done the same to Pete as well, but somehow, the overweight cat had already vanished from the area in all the confusion.

"Guess he's just going to be something that the Keyblade Legion's going to have to worry about some other time," Steve shrugged to himself, and he quickly started running to join the others outside.

* * *

It did not take long for Ventus and Sora to rendezvous with the rest of their teammates, and thankfully, Iron Man came in just seconds after they had arrived, because otherwise, the Leviathan would likely have swallowed everyone whole just like Monstro the Whale had Sora, Ven, Donald, and Goofy a year ago. Too bad for him, the tank missile that he shot to make the Leviathan back off had little effect aside from simply keeping it away from his teammates, much to everyone's displeasure. When Captain America and Falcon appeared on the scene, they had both arrived just in time to see the Leviathan slowly rising back up again, still covered in an aura of darkness as it started dropping not Chitauri warriors, but more Heartless, most of them being Soldiers or the ones that the Keyblade Legion had seen back in Hollow Bastion, which Jiminy had long since identified for them as Armored Knights.

"Well that's different," was all that Hawkeye could say after seeing the Heartless drop down from the living warship.

"Only in terms of guests, Barton. The party's still the same as it's always been," Iron Man disputed, clearly still just as confident as he usually was.

"I still don't see how that's a party," Black Widow admitted.

"Me neither," Xion said, with Roxas silently nodding in agreement.

"Either way, Tony's right. We've already beaten several of these Leviathans during the Battle of New York. The fact that it's now got the powers of the Heartless doesn't change anything other than the kind of troops it deploys," Captain America insisted. "If anything, we have the better advantage here."

"Naturally, you've got us on your side," Donald announced as he and Goofy walked up to the group. "Sorry, but we were starting to get bored just sitting around and watching."

"I doubt anyone's going to complain, pal," Ventus assured the magician.

Sora then leveled a powerful look on the Leviathan as he stepped forward and shouted, "Alright Leviathan Heartless; prepare to face the Keyblade Legion!"

"Oh come on. Are you still on that," Donald grumbled under his breath while he and Goofy summoned their weapons.

"And Earth's mightiest heroes: the Avengers," Iron Man added on. "Together, we're unstoppable."

"Couldn't have said it better myself," Captain America agreed. "Avengers, let's take this thing down!"

"Keyblade Legion, time for us to really shine," Ventus commanded.

While the others all rushed in to attack, Goofy could not help but pause in thought as he commented, "Anyone else feel like we just missed out on a huge opportunity or something?"

No one answered the knight, but that was probably because they were all already battling it out with the Leviathan and the Heartless it was deploying into the battlefield. Iron Man, Thor, War Machine, and Falcon had all gone for an aerial attack straight on the Leviathan itself, leaving the rest of the team to deal with the Heartless that were already on the ground. It was not like they could just leave them alone, considering that if left unchecked, the Heartless would probably try to get into the main city, so it was only natural for everyone who was not capable of getting airborne without extra assistance would be fighting off the foot soldiers. Not that it stopped them from trying, as evidenced by how Ventus would often use his Flowmotion powers to boost into the air to land a few strikes of his own on the Leviathan.

Ventus was not the only Keyblade wielder to attack the Leviathan though, but he was usually instrumental in getting the other members of his team, and sometimes a few of the Avengers into the air so that they could attack it as well. The only ones who did not really need his help that much were Sora, who would usually resort to getting airborne with his Keyblade Glider, Spider-Man, and Hulk. Sure, the web-head mostly kept his focus on the Heartless fighting on the ground, but he would sometimes try to hit the Leviathan with a slingshot maneuver that seemed to do a fair bit of damage now and again. Hulk on the other hand was a different story, as he just needed to jump up on top of the thing and then punch it as hard as he could without creating any kind of destructive earthquakes or shockwaves. The one thing that was undeniable though was that the Keyblade wielders were definitely helping to make some headway in the fight against the Leviathan, probably even more so than the Avengers usually had when they had been fighting against the Chitauri before.

The only reason why the fight was not over quickly was because somehow, having the Heartless give it an extra power boost had made the Leviathan a bit more resistant against normal attacks. Lucky for the Avengers, that same power boost also made it more vulnerable to the Keyblade's power, which meant that the Keyblade Legion just had to find a soft spot and hit it as hard as they could. Those soft spots were pretty easy to find, seeing how the Keyblade Legion were soon focusing their attacks on the wings and head of the Leviathan, but they made a few more with some help from the Avengers. One example would be when Thor and Hulk tore off some of the Leviathan's armor, giving Roxas an opening to hit it on its stomach with both of his Keyblades, and Xion quickly followed after her brother with an easy barrage of spells that made it whimper and stumble in its flight path. Falcon was then able to hit it with several shots from his guns in a fast, bombardment run, leaving it open to the attacks that Donald, Widow, Hawkeye, and Captain America had launched soon after.

The final attack to knock it out of the sky came from Iron Man, Thor, War Machine, and Ventus, all of whom had hit it with their best long-range attacks, making the Leviathan actually release a roar of pain as it started dropping to the ground. It probably would have slid all the way over to the city, had Hulk not gotten in its path and punched it right in the face. Goofy tried to help out the big guy by pushing the Leviathan back with his shield, but from what everyone could tell, it did not seem like the knight was really doing too much to lighten the load. Then again, Hulk was known as the strongest hero there is for a reason, so that was really no surprise. To further guarantee that it would go any further from their battlefield, Spider-Man quickly spun out a quick net of webbing, capturing the Leviathan like a fly in a spider's web long enough for Sora to land one last, finishing blow with his Keyblade. That last hit proved to be just what they needed to end the fight completely, as the Leviathan finally let out one last roar before it fell to the ground, completely dead as the darkness it was infested with dispersed from its body.

"Well…that was fun," Spider-Man sighed, glad that whole mess was over.

"Yeah. Let's not do it again anytime soon," Iron Man insisted, and almost no one argued with him on that sentiment.

"Here's hoping we won't have to unless we come back to this world in the future," Xion stated, reminding everyone that the Keyblade Legion were likely to have to deal with more big monsters like this in the near future.

"I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you," Ventus warned her.

The moment was suddenly interrupted when everyone heard a loud crash, and turned to see Hulk was still tearing into what was left of the Leviathan. "Oh yeah. Almost forgot about him," Iron Man admitted.

"Widow, time for a Lullaby," Captain America ordered.

"I'm on it," Black Widow confirmed, slowly making her way over to the Hulk.

As Widow performed the necessary routine to help Hulk turn back into Banner, the Keyblade Legion all had to agree that the whole adventure on this world really was one marvel of excitement and insanity. "So…how long do you think we still have here, and when do you think we'll be able to come back," Roxas asked his friends, cuing up the laughter from all of them.

* * *

A few hours later, Strucker had been taken into custody along with the other HYDRA agents that the Avengers and Keyblade Legion had managed to capture, while a special organization known as Damage Control was left with the task of cleaning up the Leviathan and all the other debris that was left over from the battle. This allowed the Avengers and Keyblade Legion to return to Avengers Tower without much worry, and with Loki's scepter securely in hand, there was little doubt that the heroes were all likely to throw quite the victory party later on. There was just one thing that Sora had to wonder about.

"What's going to happen to Wanda and her brother," he eventually asked as they all gathered back in the Avengers' conference room for the mission debriefing.

"Normally, they'd probably go to prison, seeing as they did break quite a few laws, willingly or otherwise," Steve started out, instantly getting the Keyblade Legion worried.

"But, considering the data we had retrieved from that HYDRA base, along with what you, me, and Spidey all heard from our Scarlet Witch, I think we might be able to swing it so that the worst they get is some community service," Tony finished for him.

"What do you mean by 'community service,'" Roxas asked, voicing the question that the rest of his group was wondering about, since that could mean just about anything with these guys, from what they could tell.

"That's up to them, but preferably, we'd like them to join the Avengers," Widow revealed.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? You do remember that they don't really have a high opinion of you guys," Ventus reminded them.

"Some more than others," Donald added with a side look at Tony.

"They have also proven to have the power and capability to actually stand their ground against us, if not best us in battle," Thor reminded them.

"Yeah, and I don't know about you, but I'd rather have someone like that fighting with us instead of against us," Rhodey admitted.

"Besides, like the old saying goes, keep your friends close and your enemies closer," Hawkeye stated with a furtive glance at the image of Quicksilver that was included with the computer file that was being shown to everyone at the moment. Clearly he was still a little sore over how the speedster had tossed him around earlier on, even if he had managed to beat Pietro in the end. It was probably something to do with the kid's attitude.

"Speaking of villains, what about the Heartless and Pete? Do you think they'll cause anymore problems," Banner asked of the Keyblade Legion.

"Pete's been causing trouble for ages, and the fact that he can reach other worlds now just means that he's an even bigger bully than ever," Goofy all but confirmed for him.

"But we should be able to handle him. After all, that guy's not even smart enough to tie his own shoes," Sora reassured them all.

"As for the Heartless, I'd say we've got that covered," Ventus promised.

That seemed to be good enough for the Avengers, given the smiles and nods that were given in response to those answers, but none of the Keyblade Legion expected what would happen when Captain America stood up to approach them. "In that case, we wish you all the best of luck," the super soldier informed them before he started to pass something out to each member of the world travelers. "And given all that's happened, we'd be honored if you would accept these as a sign of thanks from us."

When the last member of the group had been handed the items that Cap was passing out, the group glanced upon them in surprise when they saw what they were. "Are these," Sora started to ask.

"Membership cards," Donald finished for him.

"Actually the technical term is Avengers ID card, but yeah, basically," Tony clarified for them.

Indeed, the four Keybearers and their friends were in fact holding Avengers ID cards, complete with a headshot of them in the little image box on the card and the Avengers' stylized logo on the other side. If that was not confirmation enough for what this meant, then Spidey's next comment certainly was. "Congrats you guys! You're now honorary Avengers!"

That got excited cheers from the entire Legion, and soon prompted them to exchange handshakes as they thanked the Avengers for the honor that had been bestowed upon them. Right when Sora was about to shake hands with Captain America though, his ID card suddenly flashed brightly and began glowing as it floated up out of his hand. Seeing as the Keyblade wielders' blades had jumped into their hands soon after that, it was obvious that this was not a normal function of the ID card, but rather, something that the Keyblade Legion had quickly grown accustomed to by now. Sora then stepped forward with his Keyblade ready, and as soon as the tip of Kingdom Key began to glow brightly, the image of his crown pendant materialized around him, glowing brightly as a familiar energy surged out from the image's outline. Much like many times before, once the surge passed, Sora found himself in the strange sky, and he quickly spotted his new Avengers ID card in the air before it shot out a beam that dispersed into a Keyhole high above it. Without even thinking, Sora leapt back a short distance, spun his Keyblade around, and then aimed it at the Keyhole that had appeared, allowing a beam of light to be fired off from its tip the minute he had lined it up with the Keyhole. When the beam connected with the Keyhole, a faint ringing sound reached his ears, over the sound of something being unlocked, just as his surroundings returned to normal.

"Okay, that was new," Spider-Man said.

"And it's also our cue to head on out," Ventus revealed.

"Really? You guys are leaving already," Falcon asked. "You're more than welcome to stick around for the big party later today."

"Sorry, but we've gotta go. Other worlds are calling, and we're the ones that need to answer," Sora apologized on everyone's behalf.

"Well, guess we'll be seeing you all around. Don't be strangers," Tony bid in farewell, with the rest of the Avengers doing the same afterwards.

Once they had finished their goodbyes, the Keyblade Legion made their way out to the helipad of Avengers Tower, ready to teleport back to their ship. At least that had been the plan, until Sora suddenly realized that there was a new weight in one of his pockets that had not been there before. Reaching into said pocket, Sora quickly extracted quite the surprise for everyone, and it had left him grinning happily when he confirmed what it was for them.

"A new Keychain," Sora cheered.

"Just when you think we're going to be able to catch up with him, he gets another one for his collection," Roxas playfully groaned.

"I don't think I've ever seen this one before," Ventus admitted after studying the Keychain for a minute, taking in how the chain itself seemed to shine with a brilliant silver color, while the pendent was a bright red colored version of the Avengers logo. "Seems like you've got a penchant for creating new Keyblades, Sora, cause this is now the third time you've gotten a Keychain for one that probably doesn't exist yet."

"So what's this one called," Goofy asked.

Sora studied the Keychain token for a minute, getting a feeling for the new blade that was now available to him, and finally announced, "Excelsior. It's called the Excelsior Keyblade."

With that said, Sora pocketed the newest addition to his collection of Keychains and they all then teleported back up to the _Kingdom-A_ , finally ready to head out for the next world. The minute that they arrived back on the ship, they all saw that Donald and Goofy had changed back to their normal forms, which reminded them all of one other thing that their return to the ship would mean, and Xion could not help but comment on it.

"You know, I think we can all agree on what we're going to miss the most about this world," Xion said to the others.

"What's that," Goofy inquired.

"Hearing Donald speak with a voice that everyone can easily understand, and actually makes the stuff he says sound as epic as he intends it to be," Roxas finished for his sister.

Donald's reaction was an angry quack that only proved the twins' point, and as a result, the entire team was laughing all the way back up to the bridge and for a good amount of their departure from Marvel Universe. All that was left for them to do now was hope that nothing too crazy happened to the Avengers and their world while they were gone, but what were the chances of that happening?

* * *

 **Naminé's Diary Entry 3:**

 **I'm so glad that I was able to keep Sora from losing himself completely, and thankfully, Ventus had shown up to help further ensure that wouldn't happen just in time. Now all we have to worry about is getting Sora back to normal, or at least, as close to it as I can manage. Sure, it might mean that he'll lose a lot of the powers he had gained on his last journey, but Ventus has assured me that he can help Sora deal with that easily enough. I know, he's said that I shouldn't blame myself, but considering that it was my powers that caused all of this in the first place…well, wouldn't you feel pretty responsible for the whole mess, too? Still, despite this, I have to wonder, is it selfish of me to feel upset that Sora chose to have his old memories restored, even though he knew that it would mean he would forget everything about what happened here at Castle Oblivion, including our true first meeting? I know we promised to meet again and be friends for real, and that what happened here isn't entirely pleasant, but still…**

 **Anyways, all that I had to worry about after Ven's departure was the moment when Aqua, Riku, and Mickey arrived to speak with me, too. I was so sure that Riku would want me to remove the darkness from his heart, but I don't think I was nearly as surprised as Aqua was that he chose otherwise. Then again, I'm the one who encouraged Riku to not run and hide away from his darkness, and I have to admit, I'm glad that he chose to remain as he is now. It shows that he's willing to face the consequences of his choices head on, and with Mickey and Aqua's help, I'm sure he'll be able to find whatever redemption he's looking for, and that he'll have the power needed to dispel Ansem from his heart.**

 **The only downside is that Ventus had left before Aqua could have arrived, and I think that's the most disappointing thing of all. Despite what DiZ may say, I suppose you could call me something of a romantic for hoping that the two could have reunited here and now. They were just so close that it hurts knowing that they had missed each other by just a few minutes! Maybe that's just the part of me that's Kairi speaking, but I don't care. Those two more than anyone, deserve to finally get a happy ending after all they've been through. Here's hoping that it will happen soon. Well, better get back to work on fixing Sora's memories. Last thing I want is to give DiZ a reason to think that I'm slacking off on my work. He can be pretty scary when he's mad, and I always get the sense that he's holding himself back from doing anything to me for some reason.**

* * *

 ** _AN: And with that, we are done with the first visit to Marvel Universe, and before anyone asks, yeah, the next time we come here, it will be covering events that are very similar to what happened in Age of Ultron, as if that wasn't already obvious by this and the previous chapter. Hope you all enjoyed the action that was featured here, including the dialogue between the Keyblade Legion and the various Avengers. Plus, who else totally called it on the Keybearers getting Avengers ID cards and one of said cards being the thing that opened up their next gate between worlds? Am I right?_**

 ** _Now, onto other business, yes, this chapter did kind of serve as a way of showing a little more history behind this series' version of the Marvel Universe, and there are quite a few things in here that are heavily influenced by the MCU, but can you blame me? After Endgame, it's only natural that we see a heavy abundance of stuff from that series being worked into here. And of course I'm going to make the final battle as big as it was._**

 ** _Plus, I know you all totally called it on Sora being the one to get the next Command Link, and a lot of you definitely seemed to have figured out that it would be Spider-Man he would form it with, so give yourselves a round of applause and a pat on the back for that._**

 ** _[audience applause]_**

 ** _Alright, so...yeah, I guess that's pretty much all I can say about this chapter, aside from mentioning we finally have another journal/diary entry here, this one being from dear, sweet Namine. I know, it seems like I skipped over literally everything else that happened in Castle Oblivion from the last entry, but it's not like I really had much more else to cover this time around. What else was there to say about Chain of Memories in this series? Ven showed up really late in the game, Namine helped Sora remember who was really most important to him, Sora decided to be changed back to normal instead of keeping his new memories, etc., etc., etc. Besides, considering what was happening at the time, how often do you think Namine would have the chance to write something down in her diary, even if it was given to her by Larxene? Don't worry though. This most likely won't be the last time we see an entry from Namine's diary, but I wouldn't expect it to be quite as frequent as Ven and Aqua's journal entries._**

 ** _Now, let's get onto the review answers, shall we?_**

 ** _First of, regular guest reviewer "CG", maybe you should consider getting a regular account and just messaging me all your ideas for the "live-action" Kingdom Hearts, because honestly, it's kinda getting to the point where most of your reviews are about that and nothing else, or are just a similar set up. They're all good ideas, but I'd really rather just see reviews that are about the content of the actual story, while most of that other stuff that you've posted is left in like PM chats, so if you wouldn't mind at least starting up an account so that we could keep that conversation going, that would be great. Plus, that way, you wouldn't have to wait for me to update any of these stories for you to get an answer. Please do so quickly, too?_**

 ** _Next, "Guest" of 8/17/2019, the rooms on the ship are pretty much the same size all around, but a few of them do have to share a room for the most part. At the moment, the only ones who actually have their own rooms are Ventus and Xion, as Roxas and Sora are sharing one room, and Donald and Goofy another. When Kairi and Aqua join up, Kairi will be sharing a room with Xion, while Aqua does in fact move in with Ventus, but the latter was always going to happen whether that was the case or not._**

 ** _"Guest" of 8/15/2019, there may or may not be a discussion about that, but it would not really be too big of a thing, or at least I'm not planning on it being one, assuming I go forward with the idea. I do like the suggestion though, so thanks for that._**

 ** _"theIrishWriter", uh...I guess it's really not that much bigger in this series than it would be in a game. I mean, it's implied that there are other islands to Destiny Islands, considering the name of the world and all, but since we don't really explore too much of Sora, Riku, and Kairi's home, it's a little hard to say for certain._**

 ** _"SuperSonicBros123" and the "Guest" who brought the matter up, there is a very likely chance that Ven will sit down with someone to talk about everything he's been going through and basically vent a little about his frustrations and doubts, and there's also a very likely chance of that person being a certain blue-haired master we all know and love. It's probably not going to be as big of a thing as you're thinking it is, but it will still be something that we address at a later point in the story._**

 ** _"barbatos009", to answer your questions, in order: 1) I probably would've liked to have seen the Defenders and Quake in Endgame, if we're including the characters from all the other MCU franchises and not just the movies. Mostly Quake though, cause Daisy's awesome. 2) I did not see all of it, but I will say that what I did see looks pretty awesome, a lot of action packed scenes, and...that's really all I can say right now until I've seen the whole thing._**

 ** _"Monkey D. Conan", I'd say that this answers at least a few of your questions. Sorry you didn't get to see the team's exact reactions to the Hulk, or Xion not even batting an eye at him, but stick around, and I can guarantee that you might see something similar to that later on down the line._**

 ** _"Dragon Rider 66", don't worry, the Infinity Stones of this series' Marvel Universe only affect Marvel Universe, so you don't have to worry about Thanos or anyone else causing half of the entirety in the Keyblades Unleashed series being turned to dust if he snaps his fingers. You'll see further proof of that when we reach this series' version of KH3. Consider that a very small spoiler alert for that story, by the way. As for my thoughts on the live-action Mulan trailers...yeah, I'm not really looking forward to it too much. It just feels like the level of seriousness in this version had been dialed up way too much. Not to mention the removal of Mushu, I mean, come on! What is up with that?_**

 ** _"theCesar09", I've already got a set idea in mind for Kairi's new look, and it does in fact draw a basis from a look I had her rocking in the very first story of this series, so no worries there. And yes, Kairi is completely unaffected by the Corridors of Darkness because of her Princess of Heart status. That has not changed in the least, otherwise I probably would've had Aqua tell Kairi to armor up before she ran into one a few chapters ago._**

 ** _And finally, as a general response to everyone who's asked, yeah, I've seen both that trailer and the newest one for the Re:Mind DLC, and I've gotta say, I'm now looking forward to it more than ever! The return of the Final Fantasy characters, a chance to finally play as Kairi, and not to mention that my curiosity about just what all will be going down in the additional story we'll be getting is now at an all-time high! How could you not be even more excited for what we'll uncover once it gets here?_**

 ** _Okay, I think that's everything for this time around, so, let's not waste another second and get you guys over to the thing you really tune into my ending notes for, which does in fact show we're getting back to the worlds that were originally from KH2. Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _The next stop on the Keyblade Legion's journey has landed them back at Olympus Coliseum, or at least, that's where they were expecting to be. Too bad for them, they ended up a little ways down from where the actual coliseum is. Right in Hades's domain to be exact, and it's in that very place where they encounter a friend of Hercules who's more than a little concerned for the hero of this world. Can the Keyblade Legion find a way to help their friend out with the problems that he's currently facing? What scheme is Hades cooking up this time? And…is that the Organization skulking around in the Underworld?! Oh boy. Looks like things are going to get pretty crazy, next time._**

 ** _Please read and review, and see ya real soon!_**


	16. Down in the Underworld

_**Sora: Hey, haven't seen you in a while. What's been going on, Lyoko Prime?**_

 _ **AN: Yeah, sorry that I haven't really been too active lately, but things have been a little busy for me lately. I've had real life stuff going on, and trying to juggle both this with that and a special project that I'm working on.**_

 _ **Riku: A special project? Like another new story or something? Please tell me that you're not starting another one.**_

 _ **AN: No, no, nothing like that. At least not just yet. I think I've hit my limit on just how many stories I can work on at the same time for now. Hence the reason why I've got things like RWBY Meetings going at the moment. But this is related to everything I do here on fanfiction. You guys are just going to have to wait and see what it is. All I'm gonna say is to keep an eye on both my main profile page, and all of my stories and their future updates, because you may find an announcement in the latter while the former will add further confirmation that it is ready for everyone to finally see.**_

 _ **Kairi: Well how long will it be before it is ready?**_

 _ **AN: I'm aiming for sometime in the middle of this month, or some time in the later days of this month at the earliest, so expect to hear something reasonably soon.**_

 _ **Roxas: Hey, as long as it doesn't make it so that you never update another story again, I don't think anyone's going to complain too much. I'm sure we are all eager to see the moment when Sora and Ventus...**_

 _ **AN: DAH! SPOILER! [hits control]**_

 _ **Roxas: Oh sea-salt. [suddenly gets drenched in nasty water that's mixed with various pizza ingredients and toppings] Yech! Why would you hold onto pizza stuff after it's gotten as nasty as this?**_

 _ **AN: What makes you think it's mine? [turns to look somewhere off stage] Thanks for the lone Mikey!**_

 ** _Michelangelo_** _ **: Any time, dude! Cowabunga! [skateboards out before pulling a ninja vanish]**_

 _ **Riku: Was that...One of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?**_

 _ **Sora: This place gets weirder every day.**_

 _ **AN: Yeah, I've kinda had one or two of the different Ninja Turtle themes stuck in my head lately, so it only made sense that I get their help for this most recent spoiler prevention gag. Say, by the way, Kairi, I'm surprised you're so calm right now.**_

 _ **Kairi: Why wouldn't I be?**_

 _ **AN: Well I mean, I saw you hanging out with Ruby the other day, you know from the RWBY series, and one of the leading ladies of the Remnant of the Key story/series. What surprised me was how civil and friendly you were with each other. You know, considering...**_

 _ **Kairi: [tilts her head in confusion for a minute until she finally catches on to what's being implied] Oh...Oh! You mean the whole RoseHeart thing. Nah, we're cool. Besides, that's the only Kingdom Hearts story/series where you've done a pairing with Sora that wasn't Sokai, be it in general or as far as crossovers go, so I've got one over on Ruby for the moment, and any other girl you may or may not pair Sora with in the future. Plus, considering the plot line of that story, I can totally understand why those two are together. And if I'm being honest, I kinda think those two are kinda cute together.**_

 _ **AN &Everyone other than Kairi: Seriously?!**_

 _ **Kairi: Yeah. I mean, I still think me and Sora together are better, but I'm not so blind as to think at least one or two of the other pairings Sora's involved with aren't at least a little cute.**_

 _ **Riku: Translation, if she does have any problems with Ruby "stealing her man", she's saving it for the moment when they officially meet in the story line of the Remnant of the Key Series, on the off-chance that they come to blows with each other or something.**_

 _ **Kairi: Now that is not true, and you can't prove that, even if it was.**_

 _ **AN: Okay...Well, I'm just glad you two are getting along, and that I don't have to worry about Ruby being the next you-know-who.**_

 _ **Riku: You mean...[pauses to spare Sora and Kairi a brief look before quietly mouthing the next word] Xehanort?**_

 _ **AN: At least in the sense of someone that gets severally beaten up by Kairi, yeah. Now before we run the risk of jinxing anything, let's get on with the show, shall we?**_

 _ **I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter XVI**

The Keyblade Legion was more than ready to head on to their next new destination, but just when they had gotten up to the bridge, the ship's autopilot activated itself and turned them around in the opposite direction. At first they were all a little nervous, but when they realized that they were heading back to Hollow Bastion, they ended up relaxing again easily enough. Besides, the ship was already heading there at its maximum speed, leaving little reason to think that this would delay them in any way for the moment, so they just elected to let all of this happen for now. Sora had wanted to kill some time by heading down to the simulator deck and doing some training, but Ventus just as quickly revealed that since they were flying at their maximum speed, they would likely have arrived at Hollow Bastion by the time they had reached the door to said room. He was proven right very quickly, as they ended up arriving at their destination just a few minutes after he had boasted to them about the _Kingdom-A_ 's impressive speed, and Ventus was then able to park the ship in the appropriate dock on the homeworld of their old friends. As impressive as it was that they had made such good time, it did nothing to satiate the curiosity that was at the forefront of all their minds right now.

"I wonder what's up," Sora commented as the group made their way down the street to Merlin's house.

"Not sure, but it must be important for Merlin to have brought us all back here like this," Ventus shrugged.

"What makes you so sure it was Merlin," Xion questioned, with everyone else silently repeating the same question with the confused looks they were directing to the Keyblade master.

"Because aside from me, the only people who are able to take remote control of the ship like that are Master Yen Sid, Chip, and Dale, and Merlin's the only sorcerer we know who not only knows about the existence of other worlds, but also has the power and ability to cast a spell that strong," Ventus reasoned out. He then smirked to his three apprentices as he tacked on, "Another lesson to learn from this, kids: being a Keyblade master isn't all about having a great deal of power and skill in a fight; it also includes having a sharp mind as well."

The three young wielders all nodded in understanding of that point, and then returned their attention to the path in front of them right when Merlin's house came into view. Too bad for them, that was not the only thing that came into view once they had rounded that last corner, because a number of Heartless were gathered up at the front door, but just when the team had rushed over to deal with them, the dwellers of darkness dispersed all on their own, leaving the streets completely empty, while the door to Merlin's house was left wide open. Glancing through said door allowed the group to see Merlin lying on the floor and looking quite tired, so they had no trouble putting any concerns about the Heartless out of their minds in favor of checking on their friend. Not that they really needed much more persuading than seeing the Heartless outside at all, mind you.

"Merlin! Are you okay," Xion hurriedly asked, being the first to reach the wizard.

"Oh yes, I'm fine, my dear," Merlin lightly panted, accepting the girl's hand in getting back on his feet again.

"The Heartless right outside your door while you're sprawled on the floor says otherwise," Ventus pointed out. "Just how much of your magic did you put into hijacking _my_ ship?"

"A little too much, it seems," Merlin admitted. "I do apologize for bringing you all back so unexpectedly, but I needed to see you all as soon as possible. As you can guess, I did overdo it a little and those infernal Heartless…"

"Yeah, we get the picture," Roxas reassured him, letting the wizard know he did not need to go on from there.

"So what's up," Sora asked.

"Well, I happened to stumble across this in the Zero District, and thought you would like to know about it," Merlin admitted, and with a wave of his hand, he summoned forth a simple object in a puff of smoke.

Looking at the item in question, Roxas and Xion could not help but look at it in clear confusion, because to them, it did not look like anything more special than what it appeared to be in their eyes. "A book," Roxas questioned. "What's so special about a book?"

Merlin merely held the book out to the group, allowing Donald to take it in his hands so that they could all get a proper look at its cover, and when they did, the senior members of the Keyblade Legion all widened their eyes and smiles in happy recognition. "That's not just a book, Roxas," Ventus informed his younger look-a-like.

"That's Pooh's storybook," Sora happily cheered.

"Huh," was Xion's only response.

"This book is far more special than you realize, kids, for you see, it holds an entire world within it, and Sora at the very least is a very good friend of Winnie the Pooh," Merlin explained for the newest additions to the team. "That's why I summoned you all here; so I could let you know that I had found the book again."

"'Again,'" Ventus repeated. "Didn't you bring it with you after leaving Traverse Town?"

"That was my intention, but somehow, it slipped away from me along the way. I've been searching for it whenever I had the chance ever since, knowing that the world and people inside could be at risk if left out in the open for too long," Merlin admitted. "It's also for that reason that I was not able to keep the Heartless back as well as I would have liked. That's not to say I did not use any powerful magic, but I began to fear the book would be damaged, so I…" He then suddenly stopped short as he realized something else. "You know, Leon on the others should hear about this too. I-I'd better go find them. Be back in a jiffy."

With that, Merlin poofed away in a puff of smoke, leaving the team alone for the moment, but no less excited or happy about the wizard's discovery. "It's a good thing that Merlin did manage to keep this book safe from the Heartless," said Ventus. "I don't think any of us want to go looking for any missing pages again like we did a year ago."

"Still, I wonder if Pooh's doing okay," Sora wondered.

"Wanna find out," asked Donald, to which the wielder of Kingdom Key happily nodded.

"How's he supposed to get to a world that's inside of a book," Roxas questioned while Donald undid the clasp and opened the book up for his friend.

"How else? With the book's special magic," Ventus filled in for him.

"You know, I'm actually kind of curious about what a world inside of a book is like. Mind if I go with you, Sora," asked Xion.

"Sure thing. Why don't we all go," Sora offered, getting excited nods of agreement from the rest of the group.

"Hang on guys. We can't all go in. The Heartless could still come back and go after the book again," Ventus reminded them. "Most of us should stay behind while Sora checks things out. If everything's okay, then he can come back and bring someone else in with him."

"Sounds good to me," Sora agreed. "Be back in a little bit."

With that, Sora gently placed his hand on the center of the open, and in a brilliant flash of light, he disappeared into its pages. The others were a little amused by the way Xion pouted at not getting to go in with Sora, but from the sound of clanking armor and falling rubble outside, they would not have too much trouble with finding something to cheer her up with. Unsurprisingly, it was also the same thing that ended up proving Ventus right to be concerned about another visit from the Heartless.

* * *

Sora never did figure out how much time would pass outside while he was inside of Pooh's storybook, but it must have been a pretty decent amount of time. He had only just reached Pooh's house and talked with the silly old bear for a few minutes when something suddenly blasted him out again. When he landed back in Merlin's house, the book was resting on a shelf as opposed to being held by Donald, and he could hear someone fighting just outside. Summoning out his Keyblade, Sora quickly rushed out to find his friends locked in battle with the Heartless. Xion had even activated his Valor Form and was slicing through enemies left and right with both of her Keyblades, and that was a clear enough sign for Sora that he had been missing out on far too much of this fight.

Thankfully, it took a lot less time for the others to realize that the last of their number had arrived on the scene, but only Goofy thought to ask the really important question. "Did you bring the book, Sora?"

Sora flinched back a little, having only just realized that he had left Pooh's book unguarded, and to make matters worse, when he turned around to go and get it, he saw several Soldiers parading out of Merlin's house, with the book in their claws. "Hey," Sora shouted after them as he gave chase.

"Give that back," shouted Donald right after. He would have followed after Sora as well had he not been cut off by several Shadows. "Why you little…"

"Sora, Roxas, Xion! You three go after them and get that book back," Ventus ordered. "We'll handle these guys."

The three apprentices all nodded as one, and immediately gave chase, with Sora even powering up his own Valor Form so that he could move a little faster. His speed boost proved to be enough to get ahead of the Soldiers, cutting off the Heartless' escape route, and with all three of them using two Keyblades at once, there was no question as to how easy it was for Sora, Xion, and Roxas to make mincemeat out of the Heartless. From the sounds of all the powerful magics going off, it was clear that Ventus and the others were having just as easy of a time as they were, and it did not take too long to clear out all of the Heartless.

Sadly, by the time that the area was cleared of Heartless, it seemed like it was too late. When they spotted Pooh's book again, the cover was shredded up, and it seemed pretty clear that some pages had been torn out as well. Ventus and Sora hoped that Pooh and his friends were okay, but given the state of the book, they were already fearing the worst.

"Do you think it's okay," Sora asked the group as a whole once he had picked the book up off the ground.

"I don't know. It sure doesn't look too good," Roxas noted.

"Gawrsh, maybe ya better go back and make sure Pooh's all right," Goofy suggested.

"But what about Merlin," asked Xion.

"Only Sora needs to go in and check on Pooh. The rest of us can stay here and explain what happened when he gets back," replied Ventus.

"Got it," Sora nodded, and he quickly handed the book over to Donald so that the duck could hold it open for him again.

This time, Donald took a little more care in opening the book, not wanting to risk damaging it anymore than it already seemed to be, and in the same flash of light as before, Sora disappeared into the book again, leaving the others to hurry back inside, with Goofy and Roxas keeping their weapons at the ready as a rearguard for the group. Right after Sora had disappeared though, Xion decided to take a look at the pages that Donald had opened the book to for herself, and immediately noticed a very significant change that definitely seemed concerning.

"Hey, weren't there a lot more pictures on these pages before," she asked the group as a whole, turning about so that they could all see for themselves.

The minute he laid eyes on the book and saw what Xion had, Ventus could feel a sinking feeling form in his stomach, and could only mutter, "Oh no. Please don't tell me…"

"So, couldn't be bothered to wait up for an old wizard, could you," Merlin's voice suddenly asked, startling everyone in the room before they spun around to face him, weapons popping into their hands on instinct. "WHOA! Now, now, let's not do anything hasty," cried the wizard as he waved for them to stop.

Seeing that there was no actual danger, Ventus breathed a sigh of relief and dismissed his Keyblade before addressing his old friend. "Sorry about that, Merlin, but we just ambushed by the Heartless, and some of them got a hold of the book."

"Oh my! That's not good. If the Heartless tampered with the book in anyway…Please, tell me more. What sort of damage did it sustain," prompted Merlin.

"Aside from some missing pictures and a torn up cover, we don't really know. Sora just went inside to check and see if Pooh was okay," Xion revealed.

The group then proceeded to tell Merlin the whole story, and the wizard nodded along as he hung on every word, right up until the book opened on its own and admitted Sora from out of its pages. "Well Sora? How's it look in there," asked Roxas.

"Not too great," Sora revealed. "Physically, Pooh's fine, but…he seems to have forgotten all about me. And not just me, but all his other friends, too."

That drew looks of greater worry and concern onto his friends' faces, with Xion muttering, "Where's Naminé when we need her?"

"I don't think Naminé would be able to help us with this problem, Xion," Ventus stated, being the only one to overhear the lone female of his three apprentices.

"Hmm…I was afraid of this," Merlin admitted. He then proceeded to open up the book himself so he could get his own look at it, before he closed it again and informed the team, "This clearly must be a result of the Heartless tearing out some of the pages of the book, and I suspect that until we restore those pages to the book, Pooh's memory will remain as it is."

"Then I guess we're going to have to go find those pages and put them back where they belong," Sora determined.

"Not again," Ventus groaned while tiredly slapping his forehead. "As if the first time around wasn't hard enough."

"What're you talking about? It was easy to find all those pages last time," Donald reminded him.

"Yeah, it's not like we had to search high and low around every corner for them," added Goofy.

"Still…" Ventus reasserted.

"I know that this may seem tedious to some of you, but this book is one of the most cherished treasures in this world, if not all the worlds. I'd been meaning to tell Leon I'd found it again, but given its current state…" Merlin revealed.

The wizard did not need to say anymore than that, as Sora proudly declared, "Don't worry, Merlin. We've found those pages before, so doing it again shouldn't be too hard."

"Splendid! Splendid," Merlin cheered happily. "Oh, but there's no point in you all coming all the way back here and leaving empty-handed. Sora, Ven, why don't you take these?"

The others all watched for a minute as Merlin handed over what looked like a small medallion to both master and apprentice, and once the items were in their hands, both of their faces lit up with excitement. "Are these what I think they are," asked Ventus.

"Summon charms," Sora happily cheered.

"Indeed they are," Merlin confirmed with pride. "You both have an incredible ability to make friends, Sora even more so than you, Ventus, even without meeting them before, so it's only right that you both possess the means of summoning allies to your side in times of need."

"Thanks Merlin," both boys nodded in reply.

"Hey wait a minute. What about us," asked Xion. "How come Roxas and I don't get summon charms too?"

"That's quite simple, my dear. I've only had the time to make these two," Merlin answered as easy as please. "Forging summon charms with a spirit that you've never encountered before, let alone one whose heart is still with their body is not an easy task you know. Unless of course the person in question trusts you explicitly and grants the charm to you themselves, it takes a lot of time, concentration, and power to make it happen."

Even though they understood the reasoning behind that, the twins were still a bit disappointed that they would have to wait a little while longer before getting their own summon charms. Thankfully, Ventus knew of a way to raise their spirits. "Don't worry. Knowing us, we'll probably find more summon charms as we continue on our journey. I'm sure we'll stumble upon one for each of you in time, likely once we've increased each of your magic reserves to the point where they can handle the power necessary for summoning. Just be patient."

Roxas and Xion nodded in reply to that, and after promising Merlin that they would be back once they found all the missing pages to Pooh's book, the team bid the wizard farewell and quickly returned to their ship so that they could get back on course to the world that they had been planning on heading to next. Still, there was no denying the new buzz in the air that came from the knowledge that Ventus and Sora could now use summons again, and they were all pretty excited to see just what kind of heroes the two could bring to their aid in battle now.

* * *

While everyone in the Keyblade Legion was abuzz with wonder about who Sora and Ventus's new summons could be, it did little to distract the Keyblade wielders from their training, as evident by how Sora and Xion were locked in sparring sessions with one another on the simulator deck from the moment that they left Hollow Bastion. Roxas likely would have joined the two in such sessions, but he had elected to practice a little more with the new battle stance and fighting style that he was developing for when he used only one Keyblade as opposed to two for the moment, so he mainly watched from off to the side, leaving Ventus as the only wielder who was currently on the bridge with Donald and Goofy.

You would think that as the master of all three of these young wielders, Ventus should have been present for this training session as well, but as he had informed the kids when they asked him to join, there would come a time that they would need to stand on their own and it was better to get used to developing their skills on their own without him holding their hands the whole time. Of course, what he did not say, but did somewhat imply, was that Sora was to lead the training session, as was his duty as the senior-most apprentice/wielder among the three. Unlike when Ventus had brought it up at the Mystery Tower though, Sora had no complaints, likely because this was only in an unofficial capacity, and not in a way that saw him taking on anyone as an official apprentice, and right now, Sora had to admit, he was kind of enjoying himself with teaching the other two a few new tricks and moves that could improve their swordplay skills. Sure, he was a little more focused on Xion than he was Roxas but that was mainly because of how she was the one that he was sparring against at the moment. He figured that it would be better to spar with Roxas later on so that he and Xion could improve how well they fought using their Valor Forms.

His pause to take in everything that was happening right now and bask in his enjoyment ended up leaving an opening in his guard that Xion managed to take advantage of. The next thing Sora, knew Xion had not only scored a few hits on him, but was now pushing him back to the point where he was nearly up against the wall in their simulated replication of Mirage Arena's default battle ground. Thankfully, Sora was able to get his guard up again and eventually lock his blade with Xion's after a few more successful blocks, but from the grin on her face, it was clear that Xion knew she had gotten him. Sora was not going to let the girl show him up so easily though, and before she knew it, Xion found her blade nearly slipping from her grasp as Sora spun their locked blades around so that he could throw her off balance, giving him the chance to push back and ultimately cause Xion to drop to the floor in defeat.

Despite his best efforts, Sora could not help but laugh, not out of mockery, but enjoyment as he dismissed his Keyblade, offered a hand up to Xion, and praised, "Not bad. You're getting better and better with every round. If you keep this up, you might actually be the first person to beat me aside from Riku or Ven."

Upon accepting his hand up, Xion had to smile a little, knowing just how big of a compliment that was based on the memories she had once absorbed from Sora. "Too bad that my memories can't come back to me as easily as my fighting skills," she mused. "Otherwise, I think we'd be having a lot less trouble with the Organization and its members."

"I don't know about that," Sora shrugged. "Just because you know a few facts about how a person reacts and moves in a fight, it doesn't mean you can know exactly how the fight's going to turn out. Trust me, that's something I've learned the hard way from all the spars I've had with Riku. I'd always try to keep his basic patterns and tendencies in mind, but when it comes down to it, he always managed to pull a fast one on me, even if it was something I'd seen him do a million times before and win. Sure, knowing how your opponent fights can help, but it's always up to you and your own skills and abilities to determine how the fight goes."

While she had to admit that Sora was not wrong about that, she just had to joke with him a little bit. "Careful Sora; you almost sound like you're trying to take Ven's place as my official teacher."

"Hey, whoa! Let's not get too crazy, here," Sora chuckled in reply, albeit with his hands raised as if to say no thanks to the idea, even if it was only a joke, much to Xion's added amusement.

"Would it really be a good thing to remember," Roxas suddenly asked, startling the other two with his question. When they both turned questioning looks to him in response, Roxas knew he was going to have to elaborate. "Look, I'm not saying it wouldn't be nice to remember all the good times we had before with the few friends we had back then, or the time we spent with Naminé and, to a certain extent, Ven, but we all know the Organization is bad news, so wouldn't it be better if we didn't remember everything? Like, say at some point, we find out that we did something really terrible, and I'm not saying we did, but…I just don't know if I could handle knowing that."

All three of them fell silent after that. Sure, they had assumed that Roxas and Xion had been saving the worlds even when they were part of the Organization back when they first met Pete, but stopping one villain a couple of times did not mean that there was a chance they not guilty of something bad. Giving it a little more thought, Xion could not help but wonder if she and Roxas ever had something to do with the reason why Xaldin had come to consider Beast such a prime target because of them. Sure, they had helped get rid of the Heartless that had appeared at the castle, but that did not mean that they got rid of all the problems on that world. It really made them think about just how much damage they could have done before Riku and Ventus came and got them out.

As much as he did not want to admit it, Sora knew that Roxas had a point in asking these questions. Sure, the blonde was once his Nobody, but Sora was not so naïve as to ignore or act like there was not a chance that Roxas had acted like he would have during his time in the Organization. If anything, Xion seemed more likely to have acted like either him or Kairi in those instances, and with her memory just as spotty as Roxas's, it was still a big stretch to assume that she was completely innocent of any wrongdoing in that time. He was not going to let them dwell on such negative feelings for long though.

"Hey, come on, you two," Sora said with his usual smile. "Turn those frowns around. This boat runs on happy faces, remember?"

"Kind of hard to smile that much when you're so uncertain about so much," Roxas pointed out.

"Well then how about this: whatever you may or may not have done before doesn't matter now, because you've made the choice to stand with us and save the worlds from the Organization and the Heartless. You can't get hung up on something you don't remember doing, and even if it turns out you did do something bad, all we can do now is keep moving forward," Sora advised, sounding more and more like Ventus with every second. He then smiled as he placed a hand on both of the twins' shoulders and finished, "And no matter what happens, your friends will all be there to help you through the tough times, including me. After all, what are big brothers for, right?"

Roxas and Xion smiled a little more at Sora for his words, until the former figured that it was well past time that he addressed a matter that he had been curious about for a while. "Are you really okay with telling people that we're your siblings," Roxas questioned his former other. "I mean, I'd understand if you were uncomfortable with it, but…"

"Of course I'm okay with it," interrupted Sora, surprising Roxas and Xion a little more when he said that. "And I'm not just saying that because of anything Ventus told me. To be honest, I just feel like the three of us have a connection that's a lot stronger than friendship. It's not like the way I feel for Kairi or Riku, but it's definitely a feeling that's different from the bonds I have with any of my other friends." A warm feeling fell over all three of them until Sora smirked a bit and joked, "Besides, its better that than what Goofy suggested we could all be like back at Yen Sid's tower."

"I thought we agreed we were not going to talk about that again," Xion whined in protest, earning a mild chuckle from the boys as a result. They could all remember just how disturbed they each felt when Goofy suggested that Xion could be considered as something like Sora and Kairi's daughter in a weird way, but given that Sora was not being entirely serious about it, they were able to just laugh it off for now.

Their laughter had subsided quickly subsided when they felt the floor tremble beneath their feet, and they had a feeling that it had nothing to do with the settings of their current simulated training ground. A suspicion that was soon confirmed when Ven announced over the intercom, _"All hands to battle stations. We're under attack by enemy ships! Repeat: all hands to battle stations!"_

The three were out of the simulator and up on the bridge so fast you would think that they had teleported there, especially given how the ship seemed to shake from the impact of a few enemy attacks every now and then. When they all arrived, they could see several Heartless and Nobody ships through the cockpit's window, all of them flying or firing at them as Donald did his best to maneuver the ship through the combat zone safely. A quick glance to Goofy told the three that the knight was doing his best to keep track of the incoming enemies and return fire at the same time, but that was a little difficult given that, well, he is Goofy. This was a fact that he seemed to acknowledge without problem when he smiled in relief upon seeing that the other three had finally arrived.

Ventus also acknowledged his apprentices' arrival just as quickly as Goofy had, albeit with a quick nod, and immediately gave out orders for the three's assignments. "Sora, take control at tactical and return fire as soon as you're ready. Xion, I need you at the bridge's engineering station. Keep an eye on our shield and armor levels, and direct the automated repair systems to where they're needed accordingly," Ventus ordered while the kids took their assigned posts.

"What about me," Roxas asked.

"Grab a seat and buckle up," Ventus stated, not having any other jobs available for Roxas.

"Seriously," Roxas asked, even as he did as he was told, not wanting to fall to the floor when the ship was hit again. "That's practically the same thing you had me do last time. Can't I man the rear weapons or something?"

"With the upgrades to the ship's tactical systems, Sora can easily handle all the weapons systems on his own, so there's really no need for a second weapons controller like on the old _Kingdom_ ," Ventus calmly dismissed. Still, he could tell that Roxas was a bit upset about not being able to help in this situation, so he swiftly added, "Hey, there's still a few systems on the ship that are still being finalized, but once they are, I guarantee that you'll be able to help out a lot more. For now, be glad that you're practically acting as first officer."

That seemed to raise Roxas's spirits a little judging by the faint smile on his face, but they all became serious once again when the ship was hit by another enemy attack. This one seemed particularly powerful as it had nearly thrown them all out of their seats, and the whole team was left understandably concerned by what could have been behind that attack.

"What was that," Roxas asked.

"Status report," Ventus demanded of both Xion and Goofy, his unasked question being the same as the one that Roxas had just posed.

"Shields are holding, but their energy levels have dropped to eighty seven percent. Ship's armor has taken minimal damage but is still holding strong at nearly full capacity. No damage otherwise," Xion swiftly informed the group at large.

Goofy had to take a few extra minutes to reply as he had ended up falling out of his seat when they were hit. He had been right in the middle of securing himself in his regular seat at the time and having trouble doing so, but he was able to get it done quickly this time so that he could get right to the readouts that they needed. "That attack came from a really massive Heartless ship coming in off the starboard side!"

"Uh Goofy…I think we've realized that," Sora informed his friend as he gazed out the window along with the others, prompting the knight to turn and look as well.

He soon wished he had not, as the massive Heartless in question was right there in full view, and it easily dwarfed the _Kingdom-A_ in size alone. The Heartless ship in question looked like a sailing ship with several mechanical parts all around its main hull, such as two large wheels on either side and three long, thin, silver engines on either side of the ship's aft end. What looked like a massive, mechanical, spiked jaw covered the lower half of the bow, with a spiked ornament extending out as the bowsprit of the ship. When the mouth opened a little, they all could have sworn that they saw an enormous skull inside of it, but at the moment, they were more concerned with the numerous canons that were packed onto the ship's main deck, no doubt the main source of its firepower.

"A Pirate Ship," Ventus growled in recognition.

"Yeah, I think it's pretty obvious that's what it looks like," Xion commented.

"No, I mean that it's literally called a Pirate Ship," Ventus clarified for her. When the others turned to him for an explanation on how he knew that, Ventus said, "Master Yen Sid helped me to study up on the different types of Heartless gummi ships while I was keeping watch over all of you."

"Good to know," Sora nodded in acceptance. Before he could say anymore though, he happened to glance out the window again and saw that several rounds of what looked like cannonballs were flying at them from the ship, and shouted, "INCOMING!"

Donald did not need to be told to take evasive action, because he was already putting the ship into a sharp barrel roll in order to avoid them getting hit, and upon coming out of the roll, Sora immediately returned fire with their ship's main cannons. They did not score much damage against the Pirate Ship, but they did manage to destroy most of the slower moving projectiles before they could hit. After checking over the ship's current status, Xion then began helping Goofy to analyze the massive Heartless ship for some weak points that they could exploit in order to either destroy it or get it to leave them alone, but it was proving to be a rather difficult, even if she was not multitasking that with her current primary job.

Thankfully, Sora made it easier for his teammates to analyze the enemy ship by keeping up a steady barrage of weapons fire on the Pirate Ship, which ensured that more enemy projectiles were destroyed while also scoring a few minor hits on said enemy at the same time. For the most part though, they were not really able to do much damage, but so long as they were not turned to space dust by this titan of an enemy ship, no one was complaining. At least, not until the ship suddenly started throwing what they could only assume was supposed to be members of its crew at them, and Roxas paled a little at the sight of said creatures. The Heartless in question could all most easily be described as ghost or ghoul-like in appearance, and while they did not have weapons on them, the way that these Heartless were flying at the ship made it clear what their purpose was: kamikaze runs.

Sora must have realized that pretty quickly, as he had redirected a lot of fire onto the ghostly-looking Heartless, destroying all of them in a single shot for the most part, before he returned his attention to the main enemy again. He had to keep this pattern up for a little bit though, as the Pirate Ship did not stop throwing out these Ghosts and Ghouls after that first time, but while that was not making too much of a difference in the fight, it was still enough of one to make the crew a little worried about their chances of getting through to safety.

"Distance remaining to safe space," Ventus requested.

"We're still about seven clicks out, Captain," Goofy reported.

"Define 'seven clicks,'" Xion requested.

"Not nearly close enough," Donald simplified before anyone could answer as his fingers danced across his controls.

"Donald, increase speed to maximum! Get us the hell out of here," Ventus ordered.

"Aye aye," Donald briefly saluted as he opened it up as much as he could.

"Sora, switch to covering fire only. Xion, redirect all unnecessary power to shields and engines."

"Yes sir," the two apprentices nodded as one.

Roxas was not entirely okay with what this seemed to entail. "Wouldn't it be better to stay and fight? If that thing is this dangerous, there's no telling what could happen if it found its way to another world."

"It may be dangerous, but Heartless gummi ships don't normally leave the open space of these combat zones. Whether it's because they can't due to instinct or some other reason, no one knows for sure, but right now, we need to focus on reaching the next world. After that, we'll be able to safely travel to that world via the warp gummi without having to worry about being attacked, and that's our main priority right now," Ventus told his young look-a-like, earning a nod of understanding by the time he had finished speaking.

Everyone worked as fast as they could to carry out their orders from that point on, but there was no denying that they were all on the edge of their seats with baited breath, waiting for the moment when they finally escaped from this titan of a monstrosity. Sora kept up his barrage of covering fire as best he could, making sure to blast the ghostly and ghoulish Heartless that were being thrown at them from the Pirate Ship, while Xion made sure that the ship's engines got the extra power that had been requested. Throughout all of that, Roxas seemed like he was doing his best to either ignore or just not look at the Ghosts and Ghouls that were flying at them, but you could still tell that he was not doing a great job just from how his knuckles were turning white as he tightly gripped the armrests of his seat.

As they kept going, Goofy continued counting down the number of clicks between them and their exit point, and despite the consistent pattern, it seemed a lot like the pauses in his countdown grew longer and longer for every second that they continued to remain within the Heartless ship's view and range of fire. Thankfully, the extension was only in their minds, and it was in no time at all when Goofy finally announced that they had finally reached the edge of safe space. When the knight announced their arrival, Donald immediately powered up the Warp Gummi to its maximum level, and faster than you can blink, the _Kingdom-A_ vanished from the combat zone, returning to safe space once again, much to everyone's relief.

"That was…That was way too close," sighed Sora after he had released the breath he had been holding.

"No kidding. I thought Heartless gummi ships were only bad when they came in massive swarms. Since when do they come in boss-sizes," asked Xion.

"Since always, I think," Ventus answered for them. "We never really encountered any like that one before since we were always focused on reaching our destination above everything else. But thankfully, they tend to be pretty rare. At least according to what Master Yen Sid has recently told me."

Donald looked ready to snap at Ventus for not warning them about that a little sooner, when he noticed that Roxas still looked a little pale. Feeling concerned for one of his newest friends, the magician quickly asked, "Are you okay, Roxas?"

"Huh?! Uh, y-yeah! Yeah, I'm fine," Roxas assured everyone with a bit of a start. "I just…Well…N-no one ever said that there were g-ghost Heartless like those. I-I thought the only ones like that were things like those Search Ghosts."

"Nah, there's plenty of other spooky looking Heartless," Sora shrugged nonchalantly, not really seeing what the big deal is. "I mean, maybe not on all the worlds, but there are a lot of them on Halloween Town. Or at least there were."

"No, I'm pretty sure the Heartless there are still plenty spooky-looking," Ventus assured his first apprentice, not noticing how stiff Roxas had become anymore than Sora did as he said that. "When it comes to Heartless that are specific to a certain world, they never really change all that much, if at all."

As the master and student continued to converse, still not noticing how Roxas started to look as pale as a ghost with every word they said about Halloween Town, Goofy picked up something on his scanners heading right towards them, and quickly shouted, "INCOMING!"

On instinct, Donald made put the ship into a sharp turn so that they could swerve out of the way, and since most of them had unfastened their seatbelts thinking that the danger had passed, a good deal of the crew were thrown to the floor in a pile as a result. The only exceptions to that were Donald, Goofy, and Roxas, since the former was the one who made the turn, and the latter two were just thrown into the left side console.

After everyone let out mild groans of discomfort or some other feeling, Ventus looked over to Donald and grumbled, "Nice thinking, Donald."

"Ehehehehe…Sorry," the now very sheepish duck told everyone.

Sora just waved off his friend's apology and turned to look out the window so he could try and get a glimpse of what had nearly hit them just now, only to be left stunned by what he saw. "Hey, isn't that the Rock Titan," Sora asked everyone as he indicated the massive monster that was flying farther and farther away by the minute. "The one that me, Donald, and Goofy defeated the last time we were at Olympus Coliseum?"

Goofy squinted in the direction that Sora was pointing for a little bit, trying to see if he could get a glimpse of the monster for himself, but when he failed to do so, he just looked to where it had come from, and ended up finding a different way to confirm his friend's guess. "I think it must've been, 'cause look where we are now," Goofy cheered.

Turning to see what had gotten Goofy so excited, everyone quickly started to grin a little more at the familiar sight of a world that they all knew to one extent or another. "Well, how about that," Ventus stated. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived at Olympus."

"Uh…Don't you mean Olympus Coliseum," Sora asked.

"The coliseum is just one part of a much bigger world, Sora, not the entire world itself. We just haven't really taken much time to explore anything else on our past visits before now," Ventus clarified.

"Well, maybe we'll get the chance to explore more of it today, and get some special training from Herc and Phil while we're here," Sora figured. "I mean, if we were brought here, then there must be a reason, right?"

"Only one way to find out," said Ventus as he rose from his seat again. "Let's get down there, team."

"You mean Legion, right," asked Xion, bringing up the name that they had settled on for their group on the last world as if to show she had now gotten used to the name.

"Yeah, yeah, you all know what I meant," Ventus replied, humoring her while an amused smile, and with that, he led everyone out of the cockpit and down to the ship's teleporter. They had to pause for a moment to fully bring Roxas out of the sudden petrification he had came under after hearing more about Halloween Town, but aside from that, there were not really that many hiccups.

As they warmed up the teleporter, with Sora programming the coordinates for their landing site, Goofy had to ask, "So how do you think Herc and the gang are doin' these days?"

"Probably pretty good since we just saw the Rock Titan go flying past us, and Herc's the only one we know on that world who's strong enough to do that," Sora reasoned.

"Let's hope so, because he and Phil could prove to be a big help in getting you a little closer to be back in full fighting shape," Ventus told his first apprentice.

"And maybe they might have some information on whether or not we ever visited this world while we were working with the Organization," Roxas pointed out.

"We'll know soon enough," Donald announced when he saw Sora join them on the pad.

"Alright, time to disembark," Ventus announced, and with that, the team vanished from the ship once again, this time to return to a world that they all knew pretty well.

* * *

"This is definitely not what I was expecting at all," Roxas commented barely more than a few seconds after they had landed.

Instead of the shinning coliseum that they had been expecting, the Keyblade Legion had found themselves standing in a dark, spooky, ominous cave of some kind. If it was just all of that, none of the team would have felt all too concerned, aside from wondering why they seemed to have missed their landing site, but there was a certain heaviness in the air that left some of them a little unnerved. It was a little hard to accurately describe just what that feeling really was, but everywhere they looked, be it at the large, stone doors, one of which was blocked by green flames, or the slow running black river beneath their feet, the feeling seemed to intensify. Reaching out with his senses, Ventus could feel a strong presence of darkness around them, but not to a point that was similar to the Heartless or Hollow Bastion when Maleficent was in control of the world. This seemed much more in tune with their current location, but that did little to lower the levels of confusion that they were all feeling.

"This doesn't look anything like what I remember seeing in Sora's memories," said Xion as she continued taking in their surroundings before looking to the Keyblade master of their group. "Are you sure this is the place you thought it was?"

"Positive. The ship's computer definitely identified this to be the world of Olympus," Ventus confirmed for her and the others.

"Well it doesn't look like any part of the world that we've been to before," Sora remarked. He then glanced over at the other Keyblade wielders on his team and quickly amended, "Well, not any part that _I've_ been to, at least."

"Don't look at us. Roxas and I wouldn't know for sure if we'd been here before or not even if you asked, remember," Xion reminded him. "Besides, when we arrived at Beast's Castle, we at least got a vague feeling that told us we'd been there before, and I didn't get anything like that back on the ship, so I'm pretty sure this is our first visit."

"I'm…not so sure about that," Roxas muttered while his brow furrowed a little in concentration, getting the attention of his sister, older brother, and master.

Just when the other three were about to ask Roxas what was on his mind, Donald spotted something off in the distance that he quickly alerted the others too. "Hey, the coliseum's over that way," he told the group while pointing in a specific direction.

Upon turning to where Donald was indicating, the group all saw a set of massive doors leading to a glowing, twisting stairway that led upwards, and at the top, they could just make out the tell-tale signs of the coliseum that they had been expecting to see when they landed. Not bothering to question it, they all simply shrugged and began heading towards the stairs out of the creepy place as Sora commented, "I guess we were a little off on the landing coordinates."

"Maybe…Somehow though, I'm not so sure," Ventus hummed in thought.

"Ven, you don't think I sent us here on purpose, do you," asked Sora.

"No, no, I'm not saying that at all," Ventus assured his first apprentice. "If anything, I'm thinking that the problem was more with the computer than anything else. I think Merlin's little forced detour combined with that last battle we had with the Heartless might have accidentally damaged it. I just wish I'd have thought to check over our systems a little sooner."

"Well, it could've been worse, right? For all we know, the thing could've dropped us in the middle of a bad guy's secret lair," Xion pointed out, taking her own chance at being optimistic.

"She's got a point," Goofy agreed.

"Yeah, you're right," Ventus admitted with a smile to them both. "Either way, we'll need to run a diagnostic on the ship's computer when we get back."

"I can help with that, if you'd like. I'm pretty good with computers," Xion offered, only to pause a few seconds later as confusion began to work its way onto her face. "At least…I think I am. I'm not entirely sure why I would say that."

"Might be because you are good with computers," Ventus informed her. "I mean, you did hack into the Organization's computers and the ones they were using at Castle Oblivion all on your own when you were looking for answers about where you came from, so…"

Xion just nodded in response, feeling that it was best not to question Ven on this matter and felt that the matter was pretty much closed for now. She was a little skeptical about whether or not those computer skills she may have once had would just come back to her though, given how slowly it seemed like hers and Roxas's old memories were coming back to them, but that was a different worry for another time. Right now, she was more interested in leaving this creepy place so that they could meet with Sora, Ven, Donald, and Goofy's old friends. Too bad for her, something else was going to delay that meeting for the team.

Right when they were about to the base of the stairs, they all heard someone scream out in fright, and they all turned to see a woman running for her life from a group of very familiar old foes. "Heartless," cried Sora right when he saw the woman trip and fall to the ground.

"So much for the Heartless not being too big of an actual problem on this world," Ventus muttered to himself, recalling how the last time they were here, most of the Heartless that they encountered were just imitations of the real things. He put it aside though as he brought out Guardian Wind and drew it back in preparation for a hard toss at the canine Heartless who were hounding the woman in danger, and shouted, "Back off!"

One simple Strike Raid later, and several Heartless were slain by the Keyblade master's blade, while the remaining ones wisely chose beat a hasty retreat lest they meet the same fate. It may have been a little anticlimactic as far as fights go, but no one was going to complain about the easy victory. Not when they had a frightened, possibly injured civilian to check on, so they quickly rushed over to make sure the mystery woman was okay before Sora offered to help her up again.

"Thanks, but I'm fine," the woman waved off as she rubbed her head a little, not quite looking at the group. When she finally did, her eyes narrowed in confusion that held strong as she waved off Sora's offered hand and got up on her own, dusting herself off and letting the others get a proper look at her.

Overall, she looked like the living definition of a true Greek beauty, but at the same time, her posture seemed to give off the impression of someone who was not willing to conform to any kind of stereotype if she could help it. Her long hair was tied back in a pony tail, and had a faint violet tint to its otherwise dark brown color. The dress she wore was a long, pink number, with a purple sash wrapped under her bust and a second, identically colored one worn loosely around her hips. The straps of her dress seemed to be held in place by an orange, spiral-pendant, and upon closer inspection, they could see a third one of these pendants helped to keep the sash around her waist in place. Even through her magenta eye shadow and pink lipstick though, the Legion could all see that she was giving them a rather judging look.

"And you're supposed to be," she eventually asked once she was certain that she was presentable enough.

"I'm Sora, he's Donald, that's Goofy, this is Ventus, and they're my younger siblings, Roxas and Xion," Sora introduced on the group's behalf. "We came to see how Hercules is doing."

That seemed to come off as a surprise to the woman, as she gave them all a second look, mostly in the case of Donald, Goofy, and the three younger Keyblade wielders, until she finally asked her next question with a hint of surprise. "You know Wonderboy?"

 _'Wonderboy,'_ Ventus thought to himself with a sly smile, thinking that there was a bit of a story behind that rather interesting nickname.

"Yeah, 'cause we're heroes, too," Donald proudly announced.

"Ahyuck, ya mean _junior_ heroes, Donald," Goofy corrected with a chuckle.

"Since when did we get demoted to junior level," asked Xion, mostly on behalf of herself and Roxas.

"More like since when did I get demoted to junior level, seeing as I'm pretty sure I was at least granted honorary hero-level the last time I was here," Roxas corrected, only to furrow his brow a little in confusion after he said that. "Wait…where did that…"

"Well, junior or regular, it looks like we all have a friend in common," the woman chuckled after hearing most of the exchange between the four. "Name's Megara. My friends call me Meg."

"Nice to meet you, Meg. My friends call me Ven," the blonde master nodded in return. "So, how has Herc been doing lately? Still a champion hero?"

"In a…manner of speaking," replied Meg, but it was hard to miss the way she hesitated when she said that, and it looked like she was well aware of that. "He's duking it out at the Coliseum every day. You know, 'a hero's work is never done' and all that. The problem is that he's ready to drop at any second, but he just keeps on fighting. Everyone has their limits, even Wonderboy, and these opponents he's been dealing with lately are all especially bad news. Special deliveries from Hades himself."

"Hades," Donald, Xion, and Roxas all gasped as one.

"But I thought me, Donald, and Goofy beat him the last time we were here," said Sora.

"Well to be fair, he is kind of a god," Ventus reminded them.

"Right, the Lord of the Underworld," Meg filled in for everyone. "I was actually just on my way to see him. I figured I could get Hades to give Wonderboy a breather, but right when I was halfway there those monsters attacked me."

"Seriously?! You went to go and make a deal with _Hades_?! Even without the Heartless crawling around and causing trouble that's a bad idea," Ventus admonished, hardly believing anyone would do something so blindly.

"Believe me, I'm well aware of the risks when it comes to dealing with him, but if anything happened to that kid, I'd…"

"Gawrsh, sounds like you're more than just friends," noted Goofy.

"Oh…uh, I mean…" Meg stuttered, looking rather flustered for the first time since they met her as she stumbled over herself.

"Aww, I think it's actually pretty sweet," teased Xion, though given the way she was glancing at someone else along with Meg, it was clear who her tease was going to end up being directed more towards, even before she finished. "Kinda like my brother when he first laid eyes on the love of his life."

"Xion, I swear…" Roxas tried to threaten, but the effect was lost when his face was already turning red. The others just chuckled under their breaths, but thankfully, Roxas did have a way to get at least two of them to shut up, and he turned to point at each of those two as he next spoke. "Aqua and Kairi!"

"Huh? What," Ventus asked as he looked away with his arms crossed in an attempt to feign ignorance.

"I-I wasn't laughing. I didn't say anything," Sora stuttered at almost the exact same moment as his master, thought looking decidedly more red in the face than the older wielder. Once he had regained his composure though, Sora looked to Meg and said, "You know what? Let us go and have a little chat with Hades. I'm sure we'll be able to get him to back off."

"Are you sure about that," Meg questioned. She was grateful for what they did to help her just now, but she was still pretty hesitant to take them at their words of being heroes, junior or otherwise. Not to mention she did not want to just let Hercules's friends take a big risk like this on her behalf.

"Positive," Ventus answered for Sora. "Besides, we wouldn't want anything else to happen to you on your way to see him. Just leave it to us."

Meg was still a little concerned, but given how confident they all seemed to be, she felt that she had no other choice but to accept, and finally said, "Well, alright. At the very least, it does look like you know what you're doing. But do me a favor, and let's keep this whole chat-with-Hades thing our little secret, okay? No use in worrying Wonderboy anymore than necessary after all."

"No worries. Secret's safe with us," Xion promised on the group's behalf, while everyone else just silently nodded in equal agreement.

"Thanks," Meg nodded. She then waved to large, stone door with blue markings behind her, and said, "That cave is the quickest way to Hades's personal domain. Just be careful of any falling rocks, and you should be all right."

"Got it. Anything else we should know," Ventus asked.

"Just this: some say that the Underworld can sap a person's strength the longer they're here, so you may to watch yourselves when you get into a fight," Meg cautioned.

"Don't worry. We can handle stuff like that pretty easily," Sora reassured her, and with that, the group parted ways from Meg, certain that they could handle any curse that the Underworld could throw at them. At least, most of them were.

Roxas was the first to notice it, and once they were all sure that Meg was out of earshot, he paused to give the oldest Keyblade wielder in their group a look, and asked, "What're you thinking, Ven?"

"I'm thinking that if this curse Meg mentioned is real, then we should probably play it safe when we go down there," Ventus explained, getting the rest of the group's attention when he did. "Donald, cast any protective enchantments you know on yourself and Goofy. The rest of you, armor up."

"Got it," the group all nodded in response, and with a wave of his staff, Donald had placed the requested charms on him and his friend, while the others were just as quickly clad in their armors after tapping the dials on their armor pieces. Once everyone was suited up and situated, they set off into the cave, certain they would be ready for whatever Hades could throw at them.

* * *

Meg was not kidding about how they would need to watch out for falling rocks, but the team did feel like she might have been underplaying it a little, because the things that fell from the ceiling were more like boulders than rocks for the most part. Still, they did not come down as frequently as the Heartless attacks, and those were much easier for the Legion to handle. Especially once Jiminy identified the dog-like Heartless as Rabid Dogs, and another set of new ones as Lance Soldiers. Those were the most common Heartless that they found in the cave passage, but there were still plenty of the good old Shadows as well for them to contend with, and they easily handled each and every Heartless that came their way.

All the while they were going though, the four Keybearers could not help but worry a little more about that curse Meg had mentioned. Sure, their armors may protect them against various different kinds of dangers or magic, but there was no way to know for sure if it would work against this Underworld curse or not, so they wisely made sure to conserve their strength in as many ways as they could. This meant that they were keeping a close eye on how much magic energy they each had, and how often they used such magic, but for the most part, they really stuck with only using basic combat abilities. Which was not to say that they did not use any magic or special attacks at all; they just did not use them as often as they normally would. All the same, they were worried about what may or may not end up happening should they need their more powerful abilities later on, and considering that they were going to talk to Hades, they were all pretty sure that was going to be the case. Their concerns only grew when they spotted someone in a now more than familiar black coat running around in the caverns, and they all knew in an instant what that meant.

"The Organization's here too," cried Donald.

"Looks like it," Sora nodded.

"Hey you! Stop," shouted Xion just as she and Roxas started to chase after the Organization member. They may not have known for sure if it was any of the ones that they had personally interacted with since leaving Twilight Town, but any Organization member being around was not something that they could ignore, especially in their case.

"Hang on, you two. This could be a trap," Ventus tried to caution, but the twins were already too far into their pursuit to have heard him. Letting out a long sigh, Ventus just bemoaned, "Not this running into danger headfirst thing again." He then turned a small glare to Sora and said, "I blame you for this."

"Me?! What did I do," demanded Sora.

"For one thing, they're your siblings, who have seen all of your memories from our last journey, so that means I can still say you set a bad example for them. And for another, which is really tied into the first, where do you think they got that kind of mindset from," Ventus reminded, once again referring to all the times Sora had done that, including the one that led him to Castle Oblivion.

"Okay, okay, I get it! I've learned the lesson. Let it go already," Sora pleaded.

"Never," Ventus stated as plainly as possible.

"Uh, shouldn't we be trying to catch up with those two," Goofy interrupted as he waved in the direction that Roxas and Xion had rushed off in, reminding the master and student of their current situation.

One more shared, albeit much more sheepish look between them, and Ventus and Sora both quickly agreed with Goofy's suggestion before they took off to chase after the twins. Luckily, Roxas and Xion had not gotten too far ahead of them, but only because the Heartless had appeared to block their path. Even if they were not a more dangerous breed than the ones that they had encountered since arriving on this world, Ventus and Sora could not help but berate themselves for leaving Roxas and Xion to fend off the dwellers of darkness on their own for as long as they had. Really, the two had rushed ahead on their own, and instead of immediately going after them, they had stopped to have a silly argument? If Sora's memories had given a bad example of character for those two, then this little moment just now was not much better.

Despite their attempts to apologize to the two, Roxas and Xion just waved them off, feeling that they were all pretty much even, given how they had just taken off like they had, and with that, the matter seemed closed. Now they just had to deal with the Organization member who was running around in the Underworld and more than likely causing trouble. A few more run-ins with the Heartless later, and the team soon had their black-coated friend cornered in another chamber. Or at least, it seemed that way, but that despite their attempts at barring his path, the Organization member still kept running towards them at a break-neck speed.

Roxas was just preparing to attack with both of his Keyblades in hand, when the Organization member suddenly exclaimed in a panicky voice, "Run! Run away!"

Hearing that made Roxas and the others all stop in their tracks, having not expected that at all from one of their enemies. Sure, they knew that the Organization was made up of entirely Nobodies who did not have hearts, but hearing such a panicked exclamation seemed to be enough to make them forget about that for a minute. Plus, after what they had seen from the last two members that they had personal interactions with, they were not expecting to see someone from the Organization acting like a frightened child. They were so thrown off by the whole thing that said member ended up slipping right past them and into a Corridor of Darkness effectively escaping from the group.

Seeing as their quarry was now long gone, the Legion could only look to where the Organization member had vanished, some of them with quirked heads and others with furrowed brows, and the most that any of them could say was when Sora finally just muttered, "Okay…that was…"

"Yeah…" was the most that Ventus could say, confirming that even he was bewildered by this turn of events.

"Who was that weirdo," Donald wondered aloud.

All at once, the four senior members of the team turned to the twins, almost as if they expected the encounter to have stirred up some memories like the encounters that they had with Xaldin back at Beast's Castle. Their only response was Xion saying, "Don't look at us. We have about as much of a clue as to who he was as you guys do."

"But you seemed to remember a little bit about Xaldin after hearing his voice before," Goofy pointed out.

"Yeah, but we don't know who that guy we ran into on Hollow Bastion was. Or at least, we don't for sure if he was the guy we were thinking he was," Roxas reminded them. "Just because we hear the voice of an Organization member for a few seconds, doesn't mean we're going to…automatically…" As he continued to trail off, Roxas could not help but raise a hand to his head, rubbing it a little with his fingers, until he finally said, "Hang on…Maybe I am getting something."

"Like what? His name? Or maybe his number," Sora prompted. He was still curious about that latter detail, as Roxas and Xion had still not explained the whole Number thing to them yet, but it would be better to at least hear if they remembered that much.

"I wouldn't say that. It's more like…feelings associated with him, I think," Roxas clarified, sounding just as confused as he thought he was making the others feel. "Things like…annoyance, or just tired resignation, maybe? But at the same time, there's also a hint of…friendly familiarity…like the kind you would associate with someone you can talk to about stuff or just make casual conversation with without worry."

"Yeah…I'm getting the same feeling. Along with a few memories of…music," Xion pondered as she brushed her bangs back with one hand, while resting her elbow in the other, a sure sign that she was thinking deeply too. "And water…Lots of water."

"That could be what his element is," Ventus guessed. "From what I remember during my time keeping an eye on the Organization, be it while I was guarding these three, or keeping an eye on you two, each member of the Organization had a specific element that they were stronger with than anything else. You two were the only ones who really seemed to share the same element: the element of light."

"And Xaldin was wind, and Axel was fire," Xion cottoned on, remembering the former fact now that Ventus had brought it up.

"Are you sure that's the case," Roxas asked.

"Positive. One of the informants I had in the Organization confirmed it for me shortly after he joined our side," Ventus confirmed.

This was some unexpected news for all of them, as they had no idea Ventus had someone in the Organization working for him as a spy. Sure, it made a certain amount of sense to at least assume that he would have someone like that, given all that he and Yen Sid seemed to know about this group, but for some reason, they had all assumed that most of what they knew was just basic knowledge that they had deduced on their own. The only thing that really bothered them about the fact more was the fact that Ventus had not told them about this spy before now, especially in Sora's case, as he thought for sure that Ventus would have at least told him about it, given he was Ven's first apprentice and all, but right now, Sora was able to shrug it off in favor of another matter that was bothering him, and asked, "Still, what kind of person could annoy you and yet still be someone that you can easily talk with at the same time?"

That did seem a little confusing to the others, and they could not help but adopt their various thinking poses in an attempt to figure it out, until a faint flash of light caught Donald's attention. Turning to the source, the duck spotted an oddly glowing orb with strange thorns around it, similar to the ones that appeared whenever the Nobodies showed up, and inside the orb, he could see what looked like a book with an interesting cover. His curiosity getting the better of him, Donald started moving towards the orb so he could get a closer look, and that ended up being what got the others to notice the org as well.

"Hey, what do you think this is," Donald inquired of the others.

"Not sure. I've never seen anything like it before," Ventus admitted.

Xion shrugged as well, showing she had no clue what it was either, but Roxas on the other hand seemed to study the book a little more before he finally said, "I feel like…I've seen this book somewhere before. I think it might've belonged to a member of the Organization."

"Really," Goofy asked.

"Yeah, but…I'm not entirely sure. I think it might've been one of the members who I didn't really associate with that much, or one of the ones who weren't around much after a certain time," Roxas explained.

"What do you mean," Xion asked, not knowing what Roxas was talking about.

Roxas seemed just as confused as her, because he adopted a confused look as well as he said, "I don't know. I'm not sure why, but I feel like there was a point in time when some of them members just suddenly…weren't there anymore for some-ARGH!"

"Roxas!" Xion gasped along with Sora, while the others just looked on in worry as the blonde suddenly clutched his head while groaning in pain.

"My…My head…why is it hurting like this now…" Roxas grumbled, recognizing this feeling as being similar to the headaches he got back in the old mansion of Twilight Town, from before he and Xion met Ventus. All of a sudden, everything went white, as a memory began to play out before his mind's eye.

* * *

 _A short distance away, two men could be see talking, and though Roxas could not hear all of what they were saying, he did pick up on one or two snippets that did not sit well with him. The ill feeling it gave him was what made him finally approach the two just as their conversation was finishing, right when he heard the last bits of the report that was being exchanged._

 _"I see. So there really is no trace of any of them," questioned the one closest to Roxas in a voice that never failed to give him chills every time he heard it, even when it was not directed at him._

 _"Nope. Looks like everyone at Castle Oblivion was wiped out," replied the other man in a more subdued version of his usual, cocky, knowing tone._

 _"I see. That is unfortunate."_

 _"So is it true then," Roxas asked, announcing his presence to the other two, and getting their attention onto him. "About Castle Oblivion?"_

 _"That's none of your concern," the one closest to Roxas replied after hearing his question._

 _"And Axel," Roxas pushed._

 _"Gone. He may have disappeared for good."_

 _"What…?" Roxas gasped in disbelief._

* * *

When the memory finally ended, Roxas could not help panting as though he had just run a marathon, and as such, he gladly accepted the Potion that Goofy was offering to him if for no other reason than to settle his dry mouth. Once she was sure that her brother was okay to speak again, Xion immediately asked, "What happened? Did you have another memory flash like the ones we had back in Twilight Town?"

"Yeah…This one from way back in our early days in the Organization," Roxas revealed.

"Well, what did you see," Donald inquired.

"Two of the Organization members…they were talking about Castle Oblivion. Something about how everyone there had been wiped out, and they thought Axel was gone too," Roxas explained.

While Sora, Donald, and Goofy were not sure who Axel was, they could tell that it must have been someone that Roxas and Xion knew really well just from the looks of concern on their faces. "But…that doesn't make any sense. If Axel was destroyed, then how did he…" Xion started to ask, and Roxas knew she was quietly referring to when they ran into the redheaded pyro in the Virtual Twilight Town when she trailed off.

"Because he wasn't destroyed back then," Ventus explained. "I should know. I saw him with you two shortly after the event I think you're talking about."

One look at Ventus and everyone knew what he was suggesting. "You think that report Roxas overheard was one that was given in after we showed up at Castle Oblivion or something," Sora reasoned.

"Exactly," Ventus confirmed. "I know you three alone did defeat at least one of the Organization members that were based there at the time before I arrived, and the four of us together managed to destroy at least two more, but I know we didn't get all of them. Trust me, I asked Naminé about that a few times afterwards when I had the chance to visit her, and she told me that there were at least two others that we never encountered. Whenever I suggested that I go after them though, just in case it would put you three in danger, she always insisted that they were already taken care of by someone else, but she never did tell me who it was that took them down."

"Gawrsh, maybe it was Riku who beat 'em, or even the king and Master Aqua," Goofy suggested.

"What makes you say that," asked Donald.

"Well, if Ven was keeping us safe while we were sleeping, and Roxas and Xion were busy doing stuff for the Organization, then who else could it be that would've been able to stop 'em, right," Goofy reasoned out for everyone.

As interesting as he found all of this to be, Sora was starting to feel like they had gotten a little off-track and just had to interrupt before it got any further. "What does any of that have to do with this weird book, though?"

"I think it has something to do with what I was saying before," Roxas reasoned. "Remember when I said that I was remembering how some of the members suddenly stopped showing up one day? I think that's the reason why they stopped appearing, and this book must've belonged to one of the members who were at Castle Oblivion."

"Do you remember anything else about them," Xion asked. Even in the haze of what she could remember of her time with the Organization, those particular days were extremely fuzzy beyond recognition to her, indicating to her that it was at a time from before she had started to gain her own sense of identity.

"Not really. That's pretty much it," Roxas shrugged. He then looked to the orb again and said, "But…maybe this thing can give us some more answers."

"I don't think we should take that risk just yet," Ventus warned, making Roxas flinch back just when he was starting to extend a hand to the orb. "Just because it might have a connection to a member of the Organization, doesn't mean we should be messing around with it. Besides, keep in mind, this is still the Underworld, and you can't be too careful with anything down here."

"Ven's right. Plus, we've got a more important job to do right now," Sora reminded everyone. "So let's go and track down Hades."

Everyone nodded in response, and then turned to leave the orb behind, not noticing how it seemed to have flashed a little more brightly as Roxas and Xion passed it, only to grow dim again once the two were far enough away.

Upon exiting the chamber they were just in though, the group found themselves standing before what they could only describe as a winding bridge, while beneath them, they could see a strange, green mist floating by, likely coming from the even stranger river that was several feet if not miles below. The sight of the large structure with a skull-like appearance immediately told them that they were closer than ever to where Hades hanged his hat, but the overall vibe of the room sent shivers up their spines, and a few members of the team had a harder time suppressing them than others.

"Oooohhhh," Donald quivered in fear.

"I'm scared too, Donald," Goofy moaned to his friend, both them clearly feeling the worst of whatever this chilling sensation was.

Sora and Ventus were both about to take point in the final stretch to Hades's dark palace, when Xion suddenly stopped and asked, "Do you guys hear that?"

"What," Ventus asked as he paused to listen for whatever it was that got Xion's attention.

"It sounds like…moaning. Lots of moaning," Xion explained with a hand to her ear.

The others all started to listen a little more closely after hearing that, and they all soon picked up on the strange, chilling moaning sound. Following the sound with their eyes, the group eventually looked over the side of the path, down into the vast, green river beneath them, and saw what looked like several people floating past, most of them with their eyes closed, others with dead expressions on their faces, and all of them letting out various different kinds of moans and groans to add to the cacophony of the ones that were already being heard. Seeing how they could see right through all of these "people", everyone could quickly begin drawing up very similar, if not the exact same conclusions.

"Guys…I think I see dead people," Sora announced for everyone.

"You mean…a-all those p-p-people down there are g-g-ghosts," asked Roxas, who had turned as pale as a clean, white sheet and backed as far away from the edge as possible after seeing what was down there. Only Xion really seemed to notice though, as the others were either too frightened at the sight below them or too caught up in it to register much else.

"I don't know about ghosts. More like…souls. The souls of the dead," Ventus reasoned out.

"Isn't that the same thing," Sora asked.

"No. A ghost would be considered a lost soul, often times lingering in the physical world for a certain reason. These are souls that have moved on from the land of the living entirely, or at the very least, they're close to doing so," Ventus clarified.

"So ya mean…everyone who's ever died, is down there in that river," Goofy timidly questioned, seeing as Donald seemed a little to freaked out to properly speak.

"At the very least, it's everyone who's ever died on this world. I couldn't say for sure if anyone from other worlds is down there," Ventus admitted.

"Hey! You know, Sora was right earlier! We-we should really be focusing on the mission to talk with Hades right now, shouldn't we? So let's go do that, and leave this place. Right now," Roxas hurriedly insisted before he took off down the path as quickly as he could without looking like he was running.

While most of the others just shrugged off Roxas's sudden need to leave, they did not question it either for two reasons. One was that he was right in saying that they did need to get to Hades if they were going to fulfill Meg's request, and the other being that they just did not want to stick around in this place for any longer than they had to. Only Xion seemed to show any concern about how frightened Roxas was just now, and gave her brother a worried look as she muttered to herself, "This is going to be a really big problem later on; I can just feel it."

* * *

While the heroes were taking in the sights of the Underworld and pondering mysteries, the head honcho of the Underworld himself was in the midst of meeting with an old colleague that, if he were being brutally honest, he did not like at all. He felt like Maleficent had been a real let down with the last time she had teamed up, and having to put up with the fat, idiotic stooge he was sure she had brought on board out of pity some time ago was not his idea of a good time. Still, he would admit, having some Heartless around did have its uses from time to time, like by providing him with some additional monsters that he could send up to challenge Hercules without having to waste any of his good ones, but it was all proving to be pretty useless at this point, especially since he had taken notice of when Ventus and his little buddies had shown up again. Hades was not about to think that kid who had beaten him a year ago was gone for good a second time, at least not without proof, and now, he had solid proof that he was back right now. He just wished that the proof did not come in the form of those brats knocking on his door like they owned the place, and with two more brats at that!

"Where do they dig these freaks up? Geez Louise," Hades grumbled aloud as he rubbed his forehead.

"Oh, they're nuttin' but trouble, the whole lot of 'em," Pete wholeheartedly agreed without a second thought. His mindless ramblings did not stop there though, and if his voice was not getting on Hades's last nerve, his words sure were. "So, uh…what're you gonna do about Hercules? He's made mince meat outta every fighter you sent at him. Hehe, pretty soon the Underworld's gonna be standing room only! Say, why don't you just pick somebody already dead, and save him the trouble?"

That last one really got to Hades, and he was more than ready to shoot up and put the overweight cat in his place. Seeing the Lord of the Underworld getting ready to come at him must have finally clued Pete in on how he should have just kept his mouth shut, because he immediately jumped back out of fright, arms up to try and feebly protect himself from whatever attack Hades might use. It never came though, as Pete's words finally started to register with Hades, and he had to admit, they had a certain ring that he just could not ignore.

"Dead… Dead is good! And I know just the warrior," Hades excitedly grinned. He then stood from his throne, waved for Pete and his two stooges, Pain and Panic to follow, and began leading them over to a certain section of the room. With a few pushes of some of the stones, Hades opened up a secret door that revealed a large chasm in the floor that lead down into a swirling vortex of green, twisting energies, which gave off a feeling that made all but Hades tremble in their boots. "Oh yes, one of these will do very nicely."

"Really? One of what," Pete asked. "I mean, just what is it that I'm lookin' at here? It don't really look all that impressive."

"Oh, it's impressive alright, considering what's down there," Hades corrected. "You, my large, rotund, other-worldly friend, are looking at the Underworld's deepest dungeon. It's chock full of the worst of the worst, the kings _and_ queens of chaos, the paladins of destruction, the _ultimates_ of all evils to have ever existed. Yes sir, this time I'm bringing out the mother of all bad guys!"

"You don't say," Pete gasped, now decidedly much more frightened than he had been a moment ago. If Hades was really about to pull someone that bad out from there, Pete felt like he was not going to like what would happen after, and if there was one thing you could be sure of when it came to Pete, it was that he would always look out for his own neck first and foremost if and when things got too dangerous, frightening, or deadly for his tastes. This time would be no different. "Well…maybe I should go now. Wouldn't want to overstay my welcome."

 _'Believe me, it's way too late for that, pal,'_ Hades thought to himself before returning his concentration on raising the warrior he had in mind from the Underworld's deepest dungeon.

Once he had conjured up a fireball in each hand, Hades threw the burning spheres into the vortex before him, and then he and his cohorts watched as an explosion of flame, brimstone, and smoke erupted back out, mixed in with a bit of lightning to further showcase just how powerful this particular warrior really was. As if to better emphasize the point on the selected warrior's strength, the smoke soon turned blood red, until finally, the smoke cleared away, and Hades's warrior stood before them in all of his glory. Just looking at this individual made Pete and the two little demons that served as Hades's regular help quiver in their places, while Hades could only grin like mad at the promise that this held.

Despite being dead for who knew how long, the man's skin still held the faint traces of a tan, and his outfit seemed to boast of his fearsome strength as much as his hard, self-assured posture did. Said outfit consisted of a blood red haori with blue lining, which was kept closed by a thick, black and blue strap with two brown belts wrapped around it. A brown, intricately decorated shoulder pad was worn on his left shoulder, and had several beaded ornaments hanging from it. Rounding out his outfit were a pair of black pants and shoes, and a black shit that he wore beneath the haori, which had a peculiar grey, high collar with intersecting brown straps that reached up to just cover his mouth. The only other things that one could really note about his appearance was that he kept his left arm tucked into the front of his haori, almost as though he had it in a sling, how his short, dark grey hair was slightly spiked despite seeming to be slicked back a little, the light stubble on his chin, and the large scar over the right half of his face, which would likely explain why his right eye was still closed even after he started becoming aware of his surroundings.

Seeing that his recently released prisoner had started gaining awareness, Hades could not help the brief laugh he belted out before he got right down to business. "Alright, now you, my good man, are definitely what I've been looking for," Hades started off. "So, let's cut right to the chase on the deal I'm gonna offer you. I let you out of the slammer—no strings—you'll be free as a bird, and all for one little job: fight Hercules in the Coliseum…to the death! Got that? We good? Ready to shake on it?"

The man just glanced about at his surroundings, taking in both the place and the people before he finally settled on gritting his teeth and raising his impressively large sword so that it rested over his shoulders, and declared, "This is my story, and you're not part of it."

"Excuse me," Hades growled. "Did you forget who you're talking to?! I am the Lord of the Dead!"

"Huh. No wonder no one wants to die," the swordsman jested, riling up Hades even more than he already was.

"You are FIRED," Hades angrily roared, his body and flame hair lighting up into a red and orange color as he rushed at the recently released swordsman, ready to tear him apart. What he did not expect, was for the man to expertly deflect his attack via a few simple swings of his blade. The only thing that was more surprising was the stream of water that suddenly came out of nowhere and blasted Hades away from the prisoner while temporarily putting his flames out.

"You know, I could be wrong, but I was under the impression that someone actually had to accept and be working on the job before they could be fired. Maybe I'm just a little old fashioned that way," a new, familiar voice remarked as everyone turned to where the water blast had come from. Just like that, all of them were greeted to the sight of Ventus lowering his Keyblade into its usual relaxed position while the rest of the Keyblade Legion came to stand on either side of him.

"Well, you are one of the oldest guys in the room at the moment," Sora teased his master.

"Am not. There's a lot people here right now that are way older than me," Ventus insisted.

"You again? Now?!" Hades roared in disbelief. He was sure that it was going to be a lot longer before those guys got up here. His moment of distraction caused him to miss the swordsman rushing at him with his blade ready, so Hades was unable to save himself from being slashed and blasted back by said swordsman as a result.

It was the last time that the swordsman would take Hades by surprise, as the Lord of the Dead proved when he next caught his revived warrior's blade in his hand and then pushed him back. To further ensure that the swordsman would not be able to do him any further harm, Hades slugged him as hard as he could with a flaming fist, knocking the swordsman out just long enough for Hades to start gathering his magic for a more powerful attack. Another water spell from Ventus made Hades stop short though, and gave Ven and the rest of the Keyblade Legion more than enough time to position themselves between Hades and his target.

"Xion, Donald, you two do what you can to help our new friend over there. The rest of us will handle ol' Hot-Head," ordered Ventus.

"We're on it," Xion and Donald chorused as one, and they quickly went to work on casting healing magic once they were next to the fallen swordsman.

"So it's us versus the Lord of the Dead. Should we be worried," Roxas quipped as he readied both Oathkeeper and Oblivion for battle.

"Nah. Donald, Goofy, and I beat before, so we can take him easy," Sora proudly assured his brother.

Ventus did not seem as sure as Sora, but that did not mean he was not at least a little optimistic about their chances. So it was no surprise that he was the one who took the initiative and charged Hades first. Since Hades was still recovering from the second water spell he had been hit with, Ventus was sure that he would be able to land a solid, damaging hit, but the moment after he had swung, he was surprised to find that his attack barely did anything at all. Ventus was not a Keyblade master for no reason though, as he proved when he did not let that set back trip him up for long. Instead, he continued to run with the flow that his first attack had set in motion, and unleashed a furious combo of sword strikes against Hades, finishing it off with a blast of wind magic that helped push him back so he had a fair amount of distance that would allow him to fully charge his most powerful light spell: Salvation.

One rapid spin around of the Keyblade master, coupled with an explosion of light and several columns of light later, and Ventus was sure that there was little chance Hades would be walking out of his attack easily, but his mood soon changed when Hades stepped forward with little more than a few scratches. Sora, Roxas, and Goofy took that as their cue to step up, with the last of the three throwing his shield at Hades so that he would be a little disoriented when the other two boys attacked. When Goofy's shield struck Hades in the head, he did end up a little thrown off like anyone else would be after such an attack, but Roxas and Sora's follow-up strikes did not seem to do much more damage than Ven's vicious barrage had, and theirs came with three times the number of Keyblades. Roxas was getting more and more frustrated as this went on, and as a result, he tried firing a few blasts of fire and ice magic from his two Keyblades, figuring that it was time to see if Sora's theory about him being able to combine two different Command Styles was true or not. Unfortunately, it seemed that the more magic he cast, the weaker Roxas felt, and he could not even feel the usual build up that normally came with any of the Command Styles inside of him either.

Sora was not much better off than Roxas, as shown when he tried blasting Hades with every type of magic he knew, both to help build up the energy for his personal Command Style, and so that he could at least throw off the ruler of the Underworld. Just like Roxas, Sora could feel himself weakening with every bit of his magic energy that was drained, and it did not seem like his Command Style energy was building up any more than his magic energies were being replenished as they often would overtime. Deciding to change things up, Sora pointed his Keyblade at Hades, preparing to unleash his Radiant Blade Shotlock, but for some reason, the energy he needed for said power would not come, and the Shotlock itself refused to activate.

"What is going on," Sora questioned as he lowered his Keyblade and jumped back to avoid being hit by one of Hades's fireballs.

"Don't know, but I think it's time we end this," Ventus determined, as he made his own attempt at summoning energy for his Command Styles. The only difference between himself and the other two boys was that he was not going the long way around. "Command Style: FEVER PITCH!" The explosion of energy that would normally have followed after Ventus announced the name of his Unique Command Style failed to appear though, much to Ven's surprise, and realizing that the Keyblade master among them was having just as much difficulty with his powers as the rest of them was not helping to lift anyone's concerns. The fact that it failed even after Ventus tried a second and third time made that worry grow even more. "What's…I don't get it. Why isn't it working?"

"I think we may have more problems than you know. I can't even activate my Drive Form," Xion revealed to them, making the boys turn to see that Xion had finished helping Donald to heal the swordsman and then proceeded to try and join the fight by activating her Valor Form. Judging by how her clothes had not changed colors and how she was still using only one Keyblade, it was clear even without her statement that she had no more success than they did.

"Something's really screwy here," Donald mused aloud as he finished his last spell and downed an Ether, having realized his magic energies were not recharging on their own like they normally would.

"Yeah, I feel kinda funny too," Goofy admitted with a tired moan.

"That's right! See that's the thing. In the Underworld, heroes are zeroes—comes with the territory," Hades boasted proudly to the Legion.

"But that doesn't make sense. Our armors and Donald's enchantments should be protecting us from that kind of curse, shouldn't they," Xion asked.

"I guess it's either a lot more powerful than we realized, or it's just a different enough to be able to penetrate our methods of protection from that type of thing," Ventus guessed.

"Oh well. Too bad, so sad, now you're dead. And, not gonna lie, I'm gonna enjoy this next bit," Hades told them, and he instantly charged at Sora, fists blazing and eyes burning with hatred.

Sora was ready to try and deflect Hades's attack when the swordsman that Donald and Xion were healing suddenly jumped in and slashed through Hades, making the Lord of the Dead teleport back in a burst of smoke and brimstone. "You need to go! Now," the swordsman shouted to the Legion.

"But we've gotta talk to Hades," Sora protested.

"What was that," Hades called back, his fingers plugged into his ears to indicate he was not listening.

"Oh real mature," Ventus accused.

Sora shared that opinion, and was about to attack Hades for his mockery, when the swordsman stopped him by grabbing his arm after stowing away his sword. "We can't fight him here," the swordsman told Sora. "We have to go while we can."

"Sora, he's right. We need to fall back and think of a new plan," Ventus told his apprentice.

Seeing that the reasoning behind the other two's arguments, Sora begrudgingly turned and followed the others out of the room, with Ventus and the swordsman doing what they can to block the fire blasts that Hades was throwing at them in their wake. Hades was not going to let them off that easily though, especially seeing after the prisoner he had unleashed had made such a mockery of him earlier.

* * *

Even after escaping from the main chamber of Hades's dwelling and shutting the door behind them, the Legion and their unexpected ally still found themselves running for their lives as the Lord of the Dead continued to pursue them, teleporting a short distance from one area of the long, winding path from his front door to the strange chamber that they had encountered that Organization member in. To make matters worse, the Heartless decided this would be a good time to go on the attack as well, and this time around, they had the added pleasure of dealing with Large Bodies, Rabid Dogs, and a few new ones that had drills for noses, which Jiminy identified as Driller Moles. Normally, none of that would be too big of a problem, were it not for the fact that Hades would erect a battlefield barrier every few feet or so that required them to defeat a certain amount of the Heartless before they could proceed further. Add in the fact that something was preventing them from using most of their best powers and attacks, and the team was actually breaking more than a little bit of a sweat as time went on.

Luckily for them, the strange swordsman that they had saved from Hades was more than a match for anything that they encountered, and proved to be able to hold his own in a fight very nicely. Not only that, but his strength was so impressive, that Ventus could swear that he saw the man slice through a Large Body several times over without having to dance around the thing like most of them normally would before they could destroy it. He would just go right up to the big-bellied Heartless, swing his sword, and if it did not end up destroyed, then it was sent flying into several others, destroying all of them in a matter of seconds. Watching this swordsman work and continue showcasing such impressive strength actually reminded the blonde a lot of his brother in all but blood, Terra.

The only downside to the whole thing was that none of them could ever seem to land a serious hit on Hades, but then again, if that were likely to have happened, they would have been able to do so back when they had first run into the Lord of the Dead down here. If there was ever a need to further prove that the Underworld truly was a place where Hades held the home field advantage, then it was certainly met now with how often Hades just popped up and dominated them in every fight that they had with him until they had finally slipped away from the river of dead souls, and into the chamber where they were…relatively more safe.

When they realized that they had finally reached a point where they could catch a break, everyone other than Ventus and the swordsman collapsed onto the ground, all exhausted and panting heavily from the ordeal that they had just endured. The swordsman just remained as stoic as ever, but Ventus did at least lean down so that he was hunched over with his hands on his knees as he tried to get his breath back. When he finally did manage to breathe a little easier, Ventus stood up straight again, glanced over his armor and made a simple decision.

"Might as well go ahead and ditch these, seeing as now we know just effective they are at protecting us from the curse," Ventus announced to the team, and like that, his armor vanished back into his regular shoulder guard.

"If by 'effective' you mean 'utterly useless', then yeah, I'd have to agree," Roxas reminded the Keyblade master, his own armor disappearing along with Sora and Xion's shortly after. "I thought those things were supposed to protect us from all forms of harm."

"Not all forms, just the most serious, like when we're in battle, an area where we wouldn't be able to breathe, or against certain types of dangerous magic. Not all types, but certainly a good deal of them," Ventus clarified for his fellow blonde.

"So then how come this Underworld curse is getting through the armor's protection," asked Xion, truly curious as to why it did not work.

"Probably because it's a kind of overpowering magic that renders most others ineffective without meeting some type of requirement," Ventus guessed while raising a hand to his chin in order to think it over. "Some worlds have places that are like that, and often require people to have a very specific kind of charm to counteract those effects."

"Uh…Ven…" Sora said, pointing to the swordsman who was still amongst them and reminding his master that they probably should not be discussing topics like other worlds at the moment.

"Oh…Whoops," Ventus muttered as he slowly turned his gaze to their ally.

The swordsman merely huffed in good humor as he said, "Relax. You're not the only one who's from another world. Besides, I knew from the moment I saw your Keyblades that you were from other worlds."

"So you know about the Keyblade, huh," Ventus mused, now taking the time to study the man a little more closely as he attempted to figure out where he may have come from. To be honest, there was something about him that seemed a little familiar to Ven. "Interesting…"

"Not to mention you're really good in a fight. Are you some kind of hero on your world," Sora asked.

"No, I'm no hero…I'm just an…" the man started to say, only to trail off and leave his sentence hanging, much to everyone's confusion. Seeing that he had left his new companions a little bewildered, the man then stated, "Auron."

"Huh," Goofy asked while exchanging confused looks with Sora and Xion, while Roxas and Donald both shrugged to show they did not know what that meant.

"My name," the swordsman clarified. "It's Auron."

"Oh! Well, nice to meet you, Auron. I'm Sora," the Kingdom Key wielder introduced, right before Donald and Goofy started piling on top of him like a human tower as they made their own introductions.

"Donald."

"Goofy."

"And three, two, one," Roxas and Xion both counted down, watching as the tower of friends collapsed with Sora at the bottom of their pile-up, much to everyone's amusement.

"I guess that just leaves us. I'm Roxas, and this is my twin sister, Xion," the younger blonde of the group stated.

"And I'm Ventus. Ven to my friends," the master finished.

Auron nodded to each of them and then mused aloud, "It seems we were fated to meet. Maybe you need a guardian."

"Guardian? Thanks, but no thanks. I think we're good," Sora politely declined after pulling himself out from under Donald and Goofy.

That just drew another small, humorous huff from Auron, along with a matching smile, and the others would probably have joined him in his mirth, had his words not helped Ventus finally click a few things into place. "When you said 'guardian', did you mean like as in a summoner's guardian? Like the ones that the summoners of Spira have?"

"Indeed. I was once the guardian to such a summoner. His name was Braska, and I was proud to have given my life for his cause. I just wish that he had managed to achieve all of his goals before his life had ended, or that I was able to grant his dying wish before I met my end," Auron revealed.

"Wait, Spira? You mean as in the same Spira that Yuna's from," Sora recalled.

That seemed to get Auron's attention, as he turned to the young Keyblade warrior and asked, "You know Yuna?"

"Yeah, she's a friend of ours that's also a summoner. When we last met her a year ago, she told us that she was the first summoner to complete her pilgrimage without dying," Ventus revealed.

"I see…So the child not only follows in her father's footsteps, but succeeds where he failed," Auron mused, this time letting his chuckles come out in full. "Braska would be proud."

That surprised the four members of the Legion that had met Yuna a year before, but only Sora was able to ask the question to Auron. "Are you saying that you know Yuna, and that this Braska guy you were guardian to was her father?"

"There is a very real chance that maybe the case, but when I last saw Yuna, she was just a small child, and I'm not entirely sure we are thinking of the same person," Auron admitted. "Tell me, does the woman you refer to have mismatch colored eyes?"

"With one eye being green and the other blue? Yeah, that's her," Sora confirmed.

"Then it would seem that we are speaking of the same person," Auron nodded along. His smile turned a little wistful as he commented, "I'd imagine that she's grown to be a lovely young woman by now with a heart of gold just like her father's."

The members of the Keyblade Legion all smiled upon hearing that, but before they could further discuss the matter, Roxas decided that they needed to get their focus back onto the more important matters. "Not to break up the information exchange and fond remembrance, but what are we going to do now? We still have to talk with Hades about letting up on his monster attacks so that Hercules can get a break."

"He's right, but I doubt Hades is going to give us the time of day so long as this stupid Underworld curse is affecting us," Sora agreed.

"Well if our armors and Donald's magic can't protect us from it, what else can we do," Xion asked.

"Find something that can," Ventus stated. "Every world that has a place like the Underworld or really just any area that's not entirely safe for most people always has some method that would allow others to either circumvent or negate the harmful effects of that area, and I'll bet this world's no different."

"Hey, maybe there's somebody at the Coliseum who knows how we can avoid getting all of our strength sapped away by this Underworld curse," suggested Goofy.

"Yeah, like Hercules or Phil," Donald added on.

"Good thinking. Let's head up there right away, but try to remember that we need to watch what we say when we approach them about this. We did promise Meg that we wouldn't tell Herc about the real reason why we want to talk to Hades," Ventus told everyone.

With a new goal and destination in mind, the group set out once again, this time planning on heading straight for the Coliseum without any further delay. It was not an easy trip though, mainly because this time around, the Heartless seemed to appear around every corner within every few seconds. No doubt Hades had told Pete to send the little monsters after them in an attempt to keep them from getting away, but whether that was the case or not, nothing was going to stop the team from getting to the Coliseum and meeting up with their friend.

They fought their way through every form of Heartless that appeared in their path, and even without their best powers, the Keyblade Legion was able to make easy work of their dark foes. Having Auron along to help out definitely made things a lot easier for everyone, as the number of Heartless that actually slowed him down were so few and far between, you would think that they were little more than mosquitoes to him. Eventually, they finally came to the entrance chamber that would take them back to where they had first encountered Meg, but there was one small problem: the door was sealed shut by a massive amount of chains and a large lock. This would be considered as only a small problem, because apparently, Hades had forgotten just who it was that was trying to escape: a group that contained four Keyblade wielders.

Without even a second's thought, Sora called forth Kingdom Key to his hand, prompting Auron to ask, "Are you sure that will open it?"

"Yeah, I think so," Sora confirmed.

"And hey, if his can't, we've got four more Keyblades that should be able to do the job," Ventus pointed out as he and the other two summoned out their Keyblades, just to make the point a little clearer.

Right when Sora was about to aim his Keyblade at the door's lock, a loud roar reached everyone's ears, letting them know that something really big was heading their way, and Auron did not waste a second in readying his sword for battle again as he commanded, "Hurry and do what you have to!"

Right after Auron had said that, the massive, three-headed dog, Cerberus dropped down from somewhere above them, snarling and roaring loudly at the Legion and their ally, startling everyone with his appearance. Auron managed to shake it off quickest, and quickly intercepted one of the three-headed beast's massive jaws with his sword, just as said jaw was about to take a bite out of him. With Auron keeping Cerberus at bay, Sora quickly used his Keyblade to open the lock on the door, allowing Donald and Goofy to pry the door open as soon as the seal was gone. Without even a second's thought, Donald, Goofy, Roxas, and Xion all rushed through the door, but right when they were about to cross the threshold, Sora and Ventus noticed that Auron was not following them. Instead, he was still battling it out with Cerberus, and he did not look like he was going to break off his attack until the beast had come to heel.

Seeing their new friend continuing to fight such a tough battle, the master and apprentice could not bring themselves to leave him behind, and Ventus quickly used a bit of magic to erect a battlefield barrier in both ways in and out of the cave as he and Sora readied their Keyblades for action, much to the protest of the others. Roxas and Xion both wanted to do whatever they could to help their friends, probably just as much if not more so than Donald and Goofy, but since they were already on the other side of the barrier, there was nothing they could at this point but watch, much to their frustration.

Sora was not too worried. He was confident that he could handle Cerberus after the way he had beaten the overgrown mutt a year ago, but his mood was quick to change after he made his first charge. Sora was expecting Cerberus to be as slow as the three-headed dog had been a year ago, but to his surprise, the giant dog proved to be a lot faster, and Sora just barely escaped being chomped up by all three sets of jaws by the skin of his teeth. Luckily a little wind magic from Ventus helped give Sora the extra push he needed to get clear, but the fact he had nearly ended up as Cerberus' new chew toy or snack was still pretty terrifying for Sora. He shook it off quick enough though, and got right back to work, starting with a quick barrage of magic that consisted of every offensive spell that he knew and could easily use, which at the moment included all the level two versions of the fire, ice, and lightning.

Seeing what Sora was doing, Ventus quickly exchanged a silent signal with Auron, hoping the former guardian would understand what he was saying, and then rushed forward, determined to hit the beast as hard and as fast as he could. It looked like Auron got the message easily enough, as he was attacking Cerberus with several powerful sword swings to the monster dog's legs, and that provided Ventus just the opening he needed to get in close and attack Cerberus on any one or all three of his massive muzzles. Their attacks seemed to anger Cerberus a little, as he quickly spun around and started chomping at both Ventus and Auron, trying to either snap up either of them or just blow them away so that they could no longer hurt him. Ventus was not too worried though, as he still had his magic to fall back on when it came to attacks, but Auron had to go on the defensive quite a bit due to lacking any long-range abilities like the Keyblade master, but he did still manage to score a few more hits here and there.

With Cerberus so focused on the two older warriors, Sora took this as his chance to get in close once again, but not before he did a quick test of his D-Link with Ventus to make sure it still worked. When he found out that it did, he sent a quick, telepathic message to his master to let him know what he was about to do. Ventus sent a mental nod back in reply, and continued to keep up his barrage of magic, making sure to keep the three-headed beast as focused on him as possible, until Sora finally found his way onto Cerberus's back, and slammed his Keyblade into the back of all three of Cerberus's heads as hard as he could, earning a loud, pained roar from the giant dog. With Cerberus no longer nipping at his heels, Auron took the chance to leap up and land his own barrage of sword attacks on the dog, with Sora adding his own in just to make it hurt even more. One final, fast slash attack from Ventus ended up weakening Cerberus just enough for the three-headed dog to drop to its knees, growling in pain, and Ventus took that as their cue to leave.

"Come on," Donald shouted once he realized Ventus had dispelled the barrier keeping Cerberus away from him and the rest of their friends, and come quickly the three did.

The second that Auron, Sora, and Ventus had slipped past the massive stone door, the other four pushed as hard as they could to get it to close faster. After they were sure that the door would close and prevent Cerberus from continuing to chase them on its own fast enough, Sora, Xion, Donald, and Goofy all gathered together to make a bunch of ridiculous, funny faces at the monster dog, right when it was starting to pounce at the door. As result, they all heard something crash very hard and loudly against the door, indicating that Cerberus had collided with it right after it closed.

"Whew," Sora sighed in relief.

"You said it," Xion agreed. She may not have been fighting Cerberus, but she was still moving just as fast as the others to get out of that place, so she was a little tired. Plus, watching Ventus and Sora fight a monster like that with only Auron to help them did very little for her nerves.

"Do us all a favor you two, and never go into a fight like that without us again," Roxas requested of Ventus and Sora.

"No promises, kid," Ventus warned his younger look-a-like. He was about to add something else on as an extra joke, when he noticed that they were missing someone. "Uh guys…Where did Auron go?"

"Huh," Donald asked as he looked around, only to find no trace of the former guardian.

"I guess he must've gone off on his own while we weren't lookin'," Goofy shrugged.

"Should we try and go after him," Xion asked.

"Nah, he can take care of himself. Right now, we need to head up to the Coliseum and talk with our friends about a way to beat this Underworld curse. Then we can try this whole thing again," Ventus decided.

"Alright then. This time for sure. Onward to the Coliseum," Sora cheered as he marched off, leading the way to the Underworld's exit, with everyone right behind him.

Ventus was the only one to hang back for a brief time, as he cast one last glance over his shoulder, showing he was at least a little concerned about Auron. Despite that though, he did believe what he had said about Auron being able to handle himself, and he knew, somehow, that this was not going to be the last time they crossed paths with him. After one last glance around in a failed attempt to locate a trace of Auron, Ventus finally joined the rest of his team in heading up to the Coliseum, eager to reunite with his old friends and get what they would need for the next time they were down in this place.

* * *

 _ **AN: I'll be honest, I wasn't originally going to include anything beyond a vague mention of how the team needed to repair Pooh's book again, but after thinking it over, it just felt like something that couldn't be left as just a passing mention, especially given what I have in mind for when that comes up again later on. With that said, I also wanted to include the details of at least one gummi ship battle in here, since in the last story, we saw a lot more action while flying the ship, and for the most part, all we've really seen happening on the ship was the Keybearers training in the simulator deck. Don't worry, Roxas won't just be a passenger for much longer, as there will be something coming up later on that will allow everyone on the Legion to get into the action, if and when they want to.**_

 _ **Now, running things over to the adventure in Olympus Coliseum, aka Olympus (I'm going to be going with the later in terms of world names for that world, since that is what it was dubbed in Kingdom Hearts 3). Originally, I did want to do the whole run of how things went down on this world in one chapter, but as I'm sure you've all probably noticed, it started to run a little long, and this was before I remembered just how much happened on the first trip to Olympus. When I finally realized just how long it was getting, I was able to stop myself from making it run on much further, but at the same time, I did inadvertently go ahead and give myself at least a few things to start off next chapter. Not saying that the next chapter of this story will be coming too quickly, because I want to work on the next update for Remnant of the Key at some point soon, but I do at least have a good start for the next chapter, and I'm sure you've all figured out what that is from where we ended here, and from what you may remember of the original story in Kingdom Hearts 2.**_

 _ **Yeah, the Organization is here, but they didn't really get much screen time in this chapter, but to be fair, they haven't really gotten much of that in the story so far any ways either, nor was that the case during any of the first visits in Kingdom Hearts 2, but don't worry, we'll all be seeing more of that member next chapter. I guarantee it. Besides, at least it got a bit more of Roxas's memories back. If you're wondering why that it didn't do much for Xion's, you should keep in mind that the event Roxas remembered was in fact at a time when Xion was just gaining her own sense of identity. Like, she had literally just let her hood down for Roxas the day before, so it's only natural that it would be more of a blur to her.**_

 _ **Finally, the matter of Auron in this chapter. Yes, of course I was going to mention a little bit more of his history in this story. I mean, I made a point to mention Spira in a little bit of detail in the previous story when Sora, Kairi, and Ventus first met Yuna, and even in the epilogue of said story, there was a little bit of mention as to what Yuna was doing after getting back to said world. It was only natural that I bring that up again, if for no other reason, than to show that we are keeping a good flow going between these stories and their events and details. And yeah, I made it so that only Sora and Ventus fought Cerberus with Auron. Hey, it's better than just one out of the four Keyblade wielders helping to take down the overgrown, three-headed mutt, and even with all that they've done and accomplished so far on this journey, I'm sure that Sora and Ventus would probably feel like Roxas and Xion aren't quite ready to face off with something like Cerberus just yet.**_

 _ **Well, I think that covers all the major details I wanted to mention here about today's chapter. So let's get on with the stuff you guys are really eager for: review answers!**_

 _ **First off, to the "Guest" who posted on 12/31/2019, I appreciate that you enjoy the author's note gags and skits, but I do hope you understand that my calling them ridiculous and such was really just part of the joke. Thanks for the compliments, and (though this is a bit late), hope you have a good new year as well.**_

 _ **"The Keeper of Worlds", to be quite honest, I'm still brainstorming on ideas for mechanics and names for such a Command Link that would be shared between Sora, Xion, and Roxas, but the idea of one being shared between the three of them and Kairi had not really crossed my mind before. I don't know why, I guess I just feel like one that involved four people like that would seem a little too busy or something.**_

 _ **"Hamm1999", I'm sorry, I can't do that. I've already got a pretty well locked line-up of worlds in mind for this story, and they're all going to be staying as Disney worlds, or any other kind of world that we have normally seen in Kingdom Hearts up to this point.**_

 _ **"CT7567Rules", I'm sorry to say that it may be a little while longer before I can bring myself around to focus on most of those again anytime soon, but I will try to update at least one of my other non-Kingdom Hearts related stories as soon as I can.**_

 _ **"Monkey D. Conan", I do hope to at least have a Marvel-based Heartbinder in this series' version of Kingdom Hearts 3, and I do like that little suggestion you made regarding the RWBY Heartbinder, but that would be assuming I make it so that the Heartbinder is Sora's. What makes you so sure that it isn't one that's used by another Keyblade wielder on his team at that time? (I honestly haven't decided who would get it just yet, but I'm starting to lean a little towards Sora in that regard just so we can have a scene like that wink)**_

 _ **Sora: I heard that!**_

 _ **AN: Sorry, but it had to be said.**_

 _ **Back on topic with the review answer, I haven't really decided about how the new Keychains that may or may not be obtained from the Star Wars world would work, but I do like your suggestion about how everyone on the team would get their own version of such a Keychain. I may actually run with it later on. As I've said before, anything regarding Ventus and Aqua and what will happen after their reunion at this point is something that I'm keeping under wraps for the moment, at least for the most part, but I will say that you may not be too far off in what you're guessing about how their dynamic of working together at first will be like. Also, I'm actually kinda liking the idea of Ven and Aqua having a sparring session like that too, so maybe something for when their flying between worlds or something. Lastly, I like the idea you proposed about Kairi and Xion forcing...uh, I mean helping Aqua to find an actual dress for a date with Ven.**_

 _ **Kairi: Yeah, I like the sound of it too! It'd be awesome for me to have a chance to help Aqua with something like that!**_

 _ **Xion: And it would be a good chance for me to get to be like a normal girl for once, at least in this story, so I can't say that I'm against the idea.**_

 _ **AN: Yeah, I think there's a real chance that scene is going to happen now with those two on board with it.**_

 _ **Aqua: Oh boy. I think I might be in trouble.**_

 _ **AN: Relax. It can't be as bad as you're thinking it might be...[snickers a little to himself]**_

 _ **Ahem. Moving on, to the "Guest" of 1/2/2020, who asked about Sora, Kairi, Roxas, and Xion possibly getting Keyblades that represent their bonds with Ventus and/or Aqua. I'll be honest, I actually hadn't thought of that, but it definitely seems like a pretty good idea. I may have to at least consider something like that for Sora and Kairi, given that they're closer to Ven and Aqua than the other two are, even with all that's happened in this story/series so far, but if I do go through with it, I can guarantee that it will be a long time before we see anything like that come about, and even then, I'm not sure if the Keyblades in question would be entirely new/original Keyblades or ones that we've seen before, so this is going to be one of those we'll wait and see things for now, I'm afraid.**_

 _ **To the "Guest" of 1/2/2020, who asked for a hint on when you can expect to see Aqua and Kairi finally reunite with Sora and Ventus...well, I'll just say this. The team will go through the end of their adventure on Olympus Coliseum, and an adventure on one other world before we see the Legion finally become fully completed, so it won't be too much longer now.**_

 _ **Ventus: I've got this next one. Namely, to the "Guest" of 1/2/2020, who offered me that shout-out and early congratulations, thanks for all for all of your kind words and praise, on behalf of both myself and Aqua. I would add more to what you've already covered, but unfortunately, we're all under very strict "no spoilers" orders now. And I don't want to get hit by a spoiler gag. Unlike some other people. [indicates Roxas]**_

 _ **Roxas: [still cleaning himself off from when he was hit in the beginning note] Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up.**_

 _ **AN: Hey, you reap what you sow, dude. "CG", good to hear from you, and don't worry, you didn't give me too much of a headache. It was just getting a little hard to sort out all the actual reviews, both in terms of yours and other folks', from the stuff you sent me. Also, regarding your concerns over an actual account, I wouldn't worry too much. If it helps you in any way, I say it's always worth at least trying to go for it. As for your other questions, sorry, but no spoilers. You'll have to wait and see on all of that.**_

 _ **"SuperSaiyanFever", to answer your question about how long it'll be until Tony builds something that backfires on everyone...this is a slight spoiler, but I just can't resist saying it. It'll have happened by the time the team goes back for their second visit. Womp-waah.**_

 _ **To the "Guest" of 1/7/2020, at this time, plans for Chirithy are very minuscule, so I wouldn't expect to see him until the KH3 story of this series. He just doesn't really seem all that important right now to me. Maybe if we find out he has a bigger role in the future games before I've gotten too much farther into this series, or at least closer to that point of it, I might do something with him, but for now...Sorry, no go there.**_

 _ **Ventus: To the "Guest" of 1/19/2020, sorry, but no luck. My old room, like everything else in the Land of Departure was changed into a part of Castle Oblivion by the time I woke up, so I wasn't able to get anything from said room. Anything else about personal belongings or accommodations on the ship for when Aqua and Kairi join will be revealed when we get to that point.**_

 _ **AN: Back to me again. "Guest" of 1/25/2020, first off, can we please not drag any of those theories and such about whether or not Sora's the Master of Masters into this again? It's started to get on my last nerve how everyone seems to think that's a foregone conclusion. I mean, don't get me wrong, I do think your theory does have a small amount of merit to it, especially after you made that comparison to Barry Allen and Savitar in Season 3 of The Flash, but I'd rather wait and see for certain before making up any more theories. Personally, I still think that there's no relation between Sora and the Master of Masters, at least in that sense, and will likely continue to think so for a long time to come.**_

 _ **As for the questions you and others had posed to me about the Re:Mind DLC, Yeah, it was pretty great. Cleared up quite a few things for me, and I think that they handled Kairi better in that than they did in the main story, too. I think we've all got plenty of new questions, but at the very least, some of them have been answered. Honestly though, after hearing about what Kairi's doing to help find Sora, I have to admit I'm a little worried about her.**_

 _ **Kairi: Why?**_

 _ **AN: You guys do remember what happened last time one of you went to sleep for a year, right? Chain of Memories and the rest of the things that lead up to Kingdom Hearts 2 ring a bell for anyone? Seriously, I really hope that Kairi hasn't been sleeping for a year non-stop like that, because I'm pretty sure that would increase everyone's worries quite a bit. As for the whole mystery regarding Yozora...I'm not entirely sure what to think. Part of me wonders if he's just another, unwitting pawn, part of me can't help but think that he may be a potential villain, or maybe some type of Vegeta-esque rival that Sora may gain in the future or something. Honestly, it's kinda hard for me to get a real, hard read on that guy.**_

 _ **Final review to answer is to the "Guest" of 2/28/2020, I can confirm right now that Anti-Aqua will appear at a future point in this series, but it may not be in a way that any of you will be expecting. I can't say anymore than that, because that's something I'm going to keep under my hat for a long time to come, especially given how significant it is to the plot of this series' version of Kingdom Hearts 3.**_

 _ **Well, that's all for today, save for the usual last detail. Onto the Preview!...**_

 ** _Despite the loss of Auron, Hades is far from done with his schemes, and he's cooking up a few new ones that will make our heroes unwitting pawns in the grand scheme of things. Meanwhile, the Legion reunites with Herc and the rest of their pals at the Coliseum, where they get a few answers on how to beat the Underworld curse, and find out that Roxas at the very least does have something of a history on this world after all. But not everything is fond memories and great reunions, as it turns out the Organization is still lurking about on this world, and it couldn't have happened at a worse time, seeing as Meg has been kidnapped. Can the Keyblade Legion stop the Organization member and get back what he stole? Will they be able to save Meg in time while Hercules is preoccupied with fighting the Hydra? Find out as the games take another devastating turn, next time._**

 _ **Please read and review, and see ya real soon!**_


	17. A Hero's Fall From Grace

_**AN: Hey guys! We're back again with another chapter in the adventures of the Keyblade Legion!**_

 _ **[audience applause]**_

 _ **And what better way to do this than with the conclusion of events at Olympus Coliseum, am I right?**_

 _ **Sora: Well, there may be one or two ways that could be better...**_

 _ **AN: [stares at Sora for a minute before turning to his computer] Hm, let's see here...Maybe something like "And then all of a sudden, Sora was stabbed from behind by a thousand different Samurais"? No, how about "Suddenly, out of nowhere, the Heartless's numbers suddenly seemed to double, and despite his best efforts, Sora was unable to keep them back. He was just too tired to keep it up for any longer."**_

 _ **Sora: You didn't let me finish! As I was saying, there may be one or two ways, but it's you, and I'd say that you pulled it off pretty nicely with how this chapter turned out.**_

 _ **AN: [smirks knowingly as he erases everything he was just thinking about typing] That's what I thought. Don't mess with the writer. The writer will retaliate in any way imaginable.**_

 _ **Riku: All of a sudden I'm not sure what's scarier. Some of the things you do to prevent spoilers, or how easily you came up with scenarios to kill off Sora.**_

 _ **AN: Oh, you think that was bad? I can do worse you know.**_

 _ **Sora: Please don't! Seriously Riku, don't encourage him! I like living!**_

 _ **AN: Hehehe. Calm down, I'm just kidding...Mostly. [winks knowingly] Seriously though, this chapter's going to be good, and I hope you all enjoy it, because you're all in for quite a few surprises this time around. Most of which center around Roxas and Xion.**_

 _ **Roxas: Doesn't that count for a good majority of this story.**_

 _ **AN: Yeah, but I feel like it needs pointing out this time. That said, let's get on with the show everyone, because here comes the next challenger!**_

 _ **I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter XVII**

While the heroes were on their way up to the Coliseum, Hades had finally started to calm down from the burning rage he had been feeling after not only having his prisoner and old foes escape, but also learning that they had beaten Cerberus. Sure, he was not exactly happy about the whole thing, but he was cool enough to maintain a certain degree of his usual calm, collectedness, and right now, that was the only thing that was keeping him from barbequing Pete to a crisp while the oversized cat explained a few interesting details to him.

"So, let me see if I've got this right…Those brats' Keyblades work on any lock," Hades asked of Pete.

"That's right," Pete confirmed. "Didn't Maleficent tell you about all this a year ago?"

"Eh…It might've come up once or twice, but, I'm a really busy god, what with a whole Underworld to run, and a huge cosmic coup to plan out and prepare for. Well, a second cosmic coup anyway. The first one didn't exactly go so good, but the next time…oh, boy, will ol' Zeusy be in for it," Hades shrugged like it was no big deal. He then let out a brief chuckle as he then went on to add, "On another note though, have I ever told you about the killer coliseum we have right here in the Underworld? It makes the one upstairs look like an Olympic kiddie pool."

"Then that's the place where we need to put an end to Herc the Jerk's winnin' streak," Pete decided with a slam of his fist on Hades's cosmic map. "Why bother sendin' a bunch of dumb ol' monsters, when you've got a place like that to finish him off in?"

"Simple question, simple answer. Problem: Zeus locked it tight. Can't use it even if I wanted to," Hades explained.

While that earned a frustrated growl from Pete, Hades could only giggle gleefully for some reason that Pete could not comprehend. At least, until the topic they were just talking about came back to his mind. "Are you suggestin'…?"

"Bingo, big boy," Hades confirmed with a snap of his fingers. "All we gotta do is swipe one of those keys, and then we reopen the Underdrome for business! Easy-peasy."

"Uh, not that easy, actually," Pete denied, earning him another angry, questioning look. "Look, I hate to be the one to tell ya this as much as the next guys, but those keys are kinda particular. They won't work for just anybody, and those kids ain't no easy pushovers."

"Tch, yeah, tell me something I don't know, in at least two of their cases," Hades grumbled, his mind automatically going to Ventus and Sora. Thinking of them though, also made him think of the other Keyblade wielders he had encountered, and that gave him another little idea on how they could get what they wanted. "I think maybe this calls for a woman's touch," Hades concluded as he conjured up a small replica of Meg into his hand, grinning evilly as a plan formed in his mind.

* * *

"Ah, clear blue skies, brilliant sun, and a sight that you never get tired of seeing. All that to simply say now this is more like it," Ventus sighed fondly and happily as the Legion all stepped into the entrance courtyard of the coliseum at last, and from the reminiscent smiles on Sora, Donald, and Goofy's faces, it seemed that his friends all agreed. The last two though, had reactions that gave him a sense of déjà vu.

"Wow! This is amazing," Xion grinned as she looked all around, even going so far as to slowly spin around as she walked to better take in the sights.

"No kidding," Roxas agreed. "Just imagine the kinds of epic battles you could have in a place like this."

"Maybe you need to imagine it, but we don't," Sora reminded him.

"Yep, and being out here just brings back so many good memories too," Goofy happily nodded.

Hearing that last comment, Ventus looked to the younger blonde of their group and asked, "Speaking of memories does anything about this place look familiar to you, Roxas?"

It was pretty clear why Roxas was being asked that question. So far, he was the only one between him and Xion who had really gotten any real memory flashes since they arrived on this world, so there was a very good chance that he was going to have a few more just by being here. He still took a minute to survey his surroundings a little more, but when nothing happened after he had, he ended up finally replying, "Sorry, but no. Nothing really seems to stand out, at least about this area."

After taking a quick glance at Xion and seeing her shake her head in the negative as well, Ventus let out a small sigh and said, "Well, it is just one other area, so who knows? There's still a bit of a chance one of you will remember something while we're here."

"Speaking of things that are here, check this out," Sora suddenly called to the others, prompting the three to turn to where he was standing with Donald and Goofy. "They added us to the board!"

"The board," Ventus repeated in question as he made his way over with Xion and Roxas. Upon seeing what their friends were looking at, understanding quickly dawned on him along with a smile. "Oh, the tournament rankings boards. I almost forgot all about these things."

"And from the looks of this, Sora, you, Donald, and Goofy are ranked pretty high up there for the Hades Cup," Xion noticed.

"Yep, right up at the top," Goofy proudly confirmed while flexing one of his arms.

"Because we're some of the only ones to make it all the way through and win without any second tries," Donald added on with just as much pride.

Ventus and Xion both let out a round of chuckles at the pair's boasts, mainly because they found they way they were bragging to be a little silly, until Ventus stepped over and pointed out something on another board. "Don't think you three are the only ones up here, and besides, you're just up there on the team category. Whereas in the singles category…"

Turning to said category, the three were stunned to see that Ventus's name was right up there at the top for the same tournament. "What?! But…How…When," Sora stuttered.

"Just because I was spending so much time babysitting you five, doesn't mean I didn't take some time for myself every now and then, you know," Ventus told him. "Besides, you said it yourself the first time we came here: fighting against tough opponents can be great training, and it's pretty easy to find some tough, powerful opponents here. How do you think I'd gotten as far as I have in mastering Flowmotion?"

"Fair enough," Sora shrugged along with Donald and Goofy. They then started to leave the ranking boards when Sora spotted something on one of the other boards from the corner of his eye. Turning to face it fully, Sora gasped, "No way! Roxas, your name's up here!"

"What?! I was in the Hades Cup," cried Roxas in surprise.

"No, not for the Hades Cup; a different tournament," Sora revealed.

The rest of the team all rushed over to the board that Sora was standing in front of, and sure enough, there was Roxas's name, right at the top of the listings for one of the lower scale tournaments, much to their surprise. Sure, it confirmed that at least Roxas had been to this world before, but why was his name up there to begin with? Most of the Organization's missions were supposed to be carried out in secret, and from what little he and Xion could remember, they both had missions like that most of if not all the time. Was there something special about the assignment on this world that Roxas was given that required him to participate, or did he slip up and blow his cover somehow? He did not expect his questions to be answered here, or to find them in his own mind, but Roxas could not help but think about them all the same.

Xion was just as curious about all of these things as well, but what she found even more interesting was the fact that Roxas's name was only in the singles category, and not anywhere in the team categories for any of the other tournaments. Sure, she and Roxas did have some faint memories of carrying out missions on their own, but from what she could remember, they did have at least one other person with them a lot of the time, so why did it seem like Roxas was all by himself when he came to this world, and why did it seem like she never did? Was it because the Organization did not think she could handle a mission to this world? If one of the first memories of her time with them that she recovered was any indication that probably could be the case, because she doubted that they would send someone that they considered to be a mistake or a failure to compete in a tournament like the ones they held here.

Before any of them could contemplate the matter further, they all heard the doors into the coliseum's lobby opening, and turned to see an old friend stepping out. Even from a distance, they could see just what Meg had been telling them about, because despite looking as strong as ever, Hercules had a weariness about him that spoke volumes of how tired he really was. The way he was slumped over, how his shoulders sagged a bit, even the drowsy look in his eyes was proof that the hero of Olympus Coliseum had been working too hard lately. Still, they all put on their best smiles and quickly rushed over to talk with him, with Ventus being the one to get his attention.

"Hey Herc," Ventus shouted.

Hearing his name being called, Hercules looked over to the speaker and quickly looked right as rain again as he smiled at the sight of his friends. "Ven! Sora! Donald, Goofy," he exclaimed. "When'd you all get here?"

"Just a short while ago," said Sora as he waved to the champion. "Figured we were overdue for a visit anyways."

Hercules nodded in understanding before he took notice of Roxas and Xion. "Looks like you picked up a couple new teammates while you were away, too."

"You could say that," Xion shrugged like it was no big deal. "I'm Xion, and this is my brother Roxas."

Hearing that, Hercules's eyes seemed to flash in recognition before he said, "Oh, so you're Roxas! Phil's told me a lot about you."

"He has," asked a slightly surprised Roxas.

"Naturally. Said you're probably one of the best hero trainees he'd taken on since me, even if you weren't actually the guy he had been expecting," Herc explained. "Not that surprising though, since you did earn a couple of impressive tournament victories, even if one of them did get interrupted by the Heartless."

"Oh…uh, yeah. If you say so," was the most that Roxas could manage. He did not really think it would be easy for him to explain his memory problems to Hercules, but then again, it sounded like they had never met each other personally until now, so maybe there was not too great of a need for him to just yet.

Roxas's hunch seemed to be accurate, because Herc pretty much brushed off the blonde's nervous reply and move onto a new subject shortly after that. "So, if the new additions to the group and outfits are any indication, I'm guessing you guys are on another adventure, right?"

"Yeah, trackin' down some friends, wipin' out some Heartless," Sora shrugged, acting like it was just another day at the office. Then again, it kind of was for them at this point.

"Only this time, it includes solving a few new mysteries as well," Ventus added on.

"Haha! Ventus and the Junior Heroes, always busy," Hercules commented as he locked hands with Ventus and Sora in greeting one by one.

"You know it," Ventus confirmed, his smile not fading until he finally decided to bring an end to the small talk. "But with that said, we could use your help with something, if you've got the time to spare that is."

"Sure thing. Come on in and we'll talk in the lobby," Herc offered as he waved everyone inside.

As the team was following Hercules in, they spotted Meg standing in the doorway, clearly having watched their exchange and looking a little more worried than when they last saw her. Upon getting closer, they saw that she looked a little pale, like she had just seen a ghost or something, and Xion could not help but slip over to her without anyone noticing so she could check. "Hey, are you okay," the young girl asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Just…got a random chill up my spine or something," Meg shrugged off, but to Xion, it was pretty clear that she was trying to play off whatever was bothering her like it was nothing.

Whatever the case may be, Xion was not going to pry. As far as she was aware, it was not any of her business, so why stick her nose into things? If Meg really needed their help with something else, then Xion was sure that she would tell them. Right now, they had their own issues to worry about, so it was probably for the best that she kept her mind on the problem that she and her friends were already dealing with. Speaking of which, Ventus seemed to have just finished filling Hercules in on the necessary details of their current plight, and Hercules seemed understandably concerned.

"So wait, do you guys really think that there's something in the Underworld that may relate to your current mission, or that Hades might have some kind of answers that could help you in your quest," the champion of the coliseum asked.

"Pretty much," Ventus shrugged, glad that he was able to come up with a reasonable excuse as to why they were in the Underworld without mentioning their meeting with Meg or how she had tried to go and talk to Hades herself earlier. "If we'd known just how potent that Underworld curse really was though, we probably would've at least stopped by to talk with you a little sooner though."

"Still, are you really sure you want to go messing with Hades? You all know just how bad of an idea that is," Hercules pointed out.

"We know, but we don't really have much of a choice this time around," Sora insisted. "There's just gotta be something down there that can help us, and it's one of the few leads we've had since we started on this new quest. So do you have any ideas on how we can counter that curse? Because I think I speak for all of us when I say we'd much rather be able to fight at full strength in a place like that if at all possible."

Hercules did not even need to think very long to come up with a solution for their problem. "There is one way to beat the curse: the Olympus Stone. The gods on Mount Olympus use it all the time when they have to go down to the Underworld."

"Sounds perfect. Any chance we could borrow it for a bit," requested Ventus. "We'd just need to use it once, and our armors would be able to adapt its properties into their preexisting magic for any future trips we may or may not end up taking afterwards."

"Sure thing. I can go and get it for you right now," Hercules replied.

"Uh, are you sure? I mean, we wouldn't want you to overextend yourself if you have something else going on, or if you need to use whatever spare time you have getting some rest," said Xion.

"Hey, it's no problem. I can get it and be back in no time," Hercules assured her and the others. "If anything, I'm more worried about you guys. Even with the Olympus Stone, Hades is no pushover, and that's without the fact that you'd be in the Underworld. Plus, I can't even go with you guys since I have a match today…"

"Don't worry, Herc. You just worry about getting the stone and making it back in time for your match. We'll worry about anything we may or may not run into in the Underworld," Sora assured him. "And I think we all know the best place to start, too."

Ventus nodded in agreement, having already thought of the idea his first apprentice had in mind, and he immediately asked, "Any chance Phil's up for some special training sessions?"

"You betcha," Hercules nodded. "He's over in the main arena right now setting up some stuff for the next match, but I'm sure he'd be willing to spare a few minutes for you guys if it's to help you all get into fighting shape."

"Great! Then I guess we'll go talk to him and see you when you get back," Roxas concluded.

Hercules nodded in reply and then turned to head out for Mount Olympus, leaving the Legion and Meg on their own for the moment. Once Herc was out of sight, Meg looked to the team and asked, "I'm guessing that talking with Hades didn't go as well as we hoped?"

"Only because the curse left us weaker than we had expected. Don't worry though, we can still salvage this once we get that stone and do a little training with Phil," Sora reassured her.

"Well…If you're sure, but just try to hurry, please. I've got a really bad feeling that Hades might be getting ready to pull something especially nasty soon," Meg admitted.

The six friends all nodded in reply and then turned to head into the arena so that they could track down the trainer of heroes for some of his special training sessions. Sure, they probably did not need Phil's help that much, but Ventus knew from experience how much help it was to let other people lend a hand in your training from time to time. The fact that Phil played at least a small part in helping with Sora's training on their team's first visit to this world a year ago only helped to further enforce that fact. So, they all eagerly headed inside to find the trainer of heroes, and it did not take too long to find him in one of the training arenas, fixing up some urns that were clearly meant to be used in some variety of practice drills.

When Roxas saw the satyr hard at work, a brief flash of pain went through his head just before a sense of familiarity came to him, like he had at least seen Phil before. He already got the impression that he had been here and met said trainer already when they first came into the coliseum's courtyard and then spoke with Hercules, but now, he was certainly starting to believe it a little better after seeing Phil and getting this new flash of a memory that was likely on the verge of coming back. Right when Roxas was about to let the others know this, Sora had already started to approach Phil to say hi, only to have the satyr beat him to the punch in a way similar to how Phil had greeted them the first time he met Sora.

"Hey champ, how ya feeling," Phil asked, thinking that it was Hercules behind him and not the Legion. "Better rest up for the next match. Nobody's gonna pay to see a worn-out hero…capiche? Remember what I told you: victory in the games comes down to two simple words: eat, bathe, sleep!"

As usual, Goofy could not help but count the actual number of words that Phil said, and this time, Xion had joined him in the counting, but no one was surprised that the actual number of words was not two. If anything, they all just found it funny, right to the point where the whole group ended up laughing amongst themselves. As if to add more humor to the whole thing, or to get in a light jab at Phil, Ventus then said, "You know, I can't help but wonder just how good the education of the heroes you've trained is, given how bad you clearly are at math."

Phil instantly spun around to face them, ready to shake his fist at the blonde master for his jab, but his words died in his throat when he registered just who it was that was standing before him. "Hahaha! Hey, if ain't Ven and the Junior Heroes," Phil cheered as he came over to greet the four he knew best, exchanging high-fives and playful punches to the arms wherever he could. "Long time no see!"

"That's the Keyblade Legion, to you," Goofy proudly decreed as he and Donald took heroic-looking poses.

Phil scratched his chin a little upon hearing the name, before he finally nodded and said, "You know, I actually like the sound of that. Seems you've all got good heads on your shoulders for at least one thing when it comes to being heroes."

"Yeah, we think it's a pretty cool name too. You seem to be doing pretty good yourself, Phil," Sora complimented.

"Never better," Phil confirmed proudly. "How've you guys all been? Ven get you three up to the point where you've earned your 'true hero' wings yet?" The four grew silent upon hearing that, knowing that they could not go into detail about how they had fought against Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, or any of the other things that they went through when they were not here, and Phil ended up taking that silence as answer enough. "Ya still ain't got what it takes, huh? Oh well. No one becomes a hero overnight."

"What," Donald and Sora both gasped in disbelief, but they really should not have been surprised that Phil would make a judgment call like that.

"To be fair, we did hit a bit of a road bump along the way that set Sora back a little bit, but he's well on the way to getting back to where he was before, and we've also picked up a couple new friends along the way that I'm now training too," Ventus excused.

"Oh yeah? And who would that be," Phil asked, finally turning to the last two members of the group. Before either of the twins could say anything though, Phil's eyes lit up a bit and he let out another happy cheer. "No way! Roxas! I haven't seen you ages! How've you been, kid?"

"Uh…I've been…good," Roxas hesitantly replied, still a little unsure of how he should address someone he did not know despite the fact they had clearly met him before.

"What was that? You're acting like this is the first time we met," Phil scolded. "And after all that time I spent training you and coaching you so that you could participate in a couple of the tournaments, too. I told you before, kid, you're fighting's better than you're stand-up routine, so stick with what you're good at."

Upon hearing that, the small headache Roxas got earlier came back in full, and a new flash of memories began to play out in his mind's eye, showing him just what had happened in his time of knowing Phil before.

* * *

 _"There you are! I been waitin' for you," a voice randomly shouted out right when Roxas and his current partner for the day had finished taking down a small group of Heartless that were hanging around in the courtyard they had recently arrived in. Turning to the speaker, Roxas came face-to-face with a short, satyr that was marching over to them, or more specifically, to him. "What took you so long? I got everything set up," the satyr told Roxas, only to carry on without letting Roxas answer. "C'mon, hop to it. You wanna be a hero, and that takes time."_

 _"What? But I'm…" Roxas started to say, only to get interrupted._

 _"Here to train, I know! Save your breath, kid. You're gonna need it," the satyr informed him. "By the way, nice moves back there. Herc told me you had potential, and if you're any indication then he's definitely got an eye for talent. I don't coach just anybody, ya know, so I hope you came ready to sweat, kid."_

 _"Um, no!? I think you've got the wrong guy," Roxas tried to insist. He then turned to ask his partner to back him up on this, only to see that said partner had vanished on him. "Xigbar?! Where'd you…?"_

 _"Your fighting's better than your stand-up routine, kid. Stick to what you know," the satyr advised, thinking that Roxas was pulling his leg with some kind of weird joke. "Anyways, you got a name?"_

 _Seeing as it looked like he had no choice now, Roxas just sighed and replied, "Um, Roxas. And you are…?"_

 _"You're kidding, right? You mean Herc didn't tell you who was gonna be coaching you," the satyr exclaimed. "The name's Philoctetes, but just call me Phil. Now then Roxas, since we're now acquainted, I'm gonna go double check the training equipment to make sure everything's still set up right for you. Head into the coliseum and let me know when you're ready to get serious and start, alright? I ain't got all day!"_

 _The memories then seemed to fast-forwards to a later point in that same day, and judging by how out of breath Roxas was, it was pretty obvious that he had ended up going through Phil's training after all. Of course, one could also note the impressed smile on Phil's face as well, indicating that Roxas must have done pretty good. "Not too bad for your first time in the Coliseum. Keep up this pace, and you'll do just fine, kid," Phil complimented. "Which is good, because we need all the help we can get…"_

 _"Help with what? Why are you looking for new people to train here, anyway," Roxas asked, the question having been on his mind for some time now._

 _"I guess you could say we're understaffed," Phil admitted._

 _"So there aren't any strong people around here," Roxas inquired._

 _"What are you, crazy?! We've got ourselves a bona fide hero! The champ in these parts is my prize student. Maybe you've seen him in the Coliseum before," Phil proudly boasted._

 _Even after hearing that, Roxas was still a little confused on the details. "So then…what exactly does he do here?"_

 _That was probably the first thing that he said that really took Phil by surprise. "Wait, are you sayin' you signed up for hero training without even knowing what the Games are?! Oy… Lemme break it down easy for ya, kid. There's a hero and a ginormous monster; they fight, people come to watch, and that is what this whole place is for! At least until those Heartless started showin' up in droves. It used to be that they were all mainly just fake versions that were created by a special magic in the coliseum, but after Hades's last scheme, the real ones started coming in and causing all kinds of problems. Sure, it was frustrating, but after a while, some genius figured out a way to get them all corralled into the Coliseum so that heroes could fight and destroy them. The problem is, with back-to-back matches in the Games and taking out the Heartless that weren't rounded up, our champ's been workin' way too much, so naturally, I need to bring in some new talent to help take the load off."_

 _That much Roxas got. He was not sure how someone could be able to destroy Heartless without a Keyblade, but if they found a way to do it here, he should probably look into it, or at least mention the fact in his report when he got back to the castle. He still had a few more questions though, but his next couple questions were for more personal reasons than anything else. "So the Games are like a tournament? Do I get to enter?"_

 _"You? In the Games?! Ahh ha ha ha," Phil laughed out loud._

 _"What's so funny about that? You said you saw me in action, so why would you think it's funny that I'd want to enter," Roxas demanded hotly. He may not remember anything from his time being human, but somehow, he just knew that this is what it felt like to feel insulted._

 _"I got two words for you, kid: Outta. Your. League! You got promise, I'll give you that, but you'll need a lot more training before you're ready for the big time."_

 _A few more brief flashes showed that Roxas continued to train with Phil, either by accidental coincidence or intentionally, and the blonde really seemed to put in the work, even when he was tired from doing something else, until eventually, Phil ended up clearing him for participating in the Games. Sure, it was just the Rookie Cup, and Phil did not seem too optimistic about Roxas's chances of placing, but it was pretty obvious that Roxas got excited upon hearing that he was going to get to enter in one of the next tournaments. That next tournament ended up being a bust though, as the memories showed that while Roxas did make it to the final round, in which he ended up facing a fellow member of the Organization that used what looked like crossbows as weapons, the match was interrupted by a huge Heartless that he had to take out, and he ended up leaving before an official winner was decided._

 _The next time Roxas arrived in the Coliseum, it was pretty clear that he was there to enter another tournament, and right after he entered the lobby and started to ponder how he would get signed up, he heard Phil's voice calling out to him. "Am I seeing things? Rookie, is that you?"_

 _"Huh? Oh, uh…Hey," Roxas nervously greeted once the satyr stood before him._

 _"I haven't seen you in ages. How are ya," Phil happily greeted._

 _"I'm hanging in there."_

 _"That's good, 'cause that vanishing act you pulled at the end of the last Games had me worried."_

 _"Oh…Sorry." Roxas had the decency to sound and look a little sheepish upon hearing that._

 _"Ah no worries. I figured musta pulled through, because no lousy Heartless is gonna wipe the floor with one of my boys," Phil nodded, still showing all kinds of confidence in Roxas. He then turned a lot more serious as he asked, "Speakin' of which, when were ya plannin' to tell me you weren't the guy Herc sent?"_

 _Roxas just barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes, but he could not help but try and protest, "If you had just let me talk, or listen…"_

 _"This whole time I thought you were the Champ's top pick," Phil interrupted once again, not knowing that he was proving Roxas's point on the reason why he never said that he was not the guy he had been expecting. "Okay, let's start over, Roxas. Where ya really from, and who sent ya?"_

 _"Um… Well…" Roxas was stuck now. Considering that he could not say anything about being a member of the Organization, or even let people know he was from another world in general, he was not sure what he could say. It did not help that most of his missions were strictly stealth-based, and aside from Twilight Town, this was probably the only world where he had directly interacted with any locals from a world, so he never really bothered trying to think of a cover story to tell people. Most of the time, they usually did that for him and assumed that information on their own, and being put on the spot like this did not make thinking of something any easier._

 _Much to Roxas's surprise, Phil ended up coming to the rescue without even knowing it. "Ah, ya know what, don't bother saying anything. I think I already have a pretty good idea."_

 _"You do?!"_

 _"Yeah, I mean, it probably should've been obvious just from the fact you've been fighting with a Keyblade, or did you think I wouldn't notice that," said Phil. "I'm guessing that good ol' Ven sent ya or something, right? Who else would've sent me a trainee with a Keyblade and tries to keep a lot of information about him hush-hush."_

 _"Well…uh…" Roxas stuttered, not sure if he should really bother telling Phil the truth. Sure, he assumed that the man in armor he met once was Ventus, but said man never actually confirmed that for him, and they met long after Roxas's first visit to this world. Still, if that was what Phil wanted to think, Roxas was okay with that._

 _Whatever the case, Phil just brushed it off a second later and helped Roxas get signed up for the tournament that was being held that day. Unsurprisingly, Roxas ended up dominating the whole thing and taking home the gold, even if he was mainly focused on taking out the Heartless he fought against. It did have the added bonus of making Phil happy to see that his trainee had made it through to the end, and seeing that made Roxas smile a bit more for his victory._

 _After a brief exchange of words between them, Roxas was prepared to head out, until Phil suddenly said, "Hey, Roxas… Don't be a stranger."_

 _That seemed to surprise Roxas a bit. After their conversation before the tournament, he was sure that Phil would probably not want him to come back again, but judging by that last comment it seemed that he expected Roxas to return. For some reason, that actually made Roxas pretty excited._

* * *

As soon as the memory flash had faded away, Roxas quickly registered that everyone was looking at him with deep concern, mostly in Phil's case. The others had a pretty good idea of what had just happened, but they were not about to blurt it out in case they were wrong, let alone while Phil was around. There was no way of knowing for sure how Phil would react to hearing about the blonde's new memory problem, so it would probably be better to keep that to themselves for now. Even so, it did not stop Phil from being concerned for Roxas.

"Hey, you okay there, Rookie," Phil asked as he approached Roxas, ready to check him over for any signs of previous injuries if need be.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just…feeling a sudden wave of nostalgia," Roxas assured the satyr with a genuine smile. "It's good to see you again, Phil."

"Likewise," Phil nodded in return. "Of course, I wish you would've shown up a little more often. It'd have given the champ a chance to take it easy a bit more often between matches."

"I'm guessing that things have only gotten more hectic since I was last here, since you said that you were looking for more heroes to give Hercules a break," Roxas figured.

"Yeah, to put it mildly. Don't get me wrong, I love that kid's dedication, but even a big time champ like Herc needs to take a breather every now and then, something I'm starting to think he's forgotten about with how many matches he's been getting into recently even after stopping Heartless from destroying the city," Phil sighed. It seemed like he was just as worried about how long it would be before Hercules overworked himself as Meg was, and none of the Legion failed to notice this.

"Well, don't worry, Phil, because we're here to help with that," Xion proudly declared.

"Oh, well…Great, kid… So, uh…Does someone mind telling me who this adorable, little girl is," asked Phil, having been caught off guard by her sudden announcement.

Xion was just about to snap at Phil for calling her little, when Roxas stepped in to introduce her before she bit his head off. "Phil, this is Xion, my twin sister. She and I have been traveling and training with these guys for a little while now, since we're both Keyblade wielders like Sora and Ven."

"Really? You don't say," Phil nodded with an interested smile. "Well, here's hoping you're able to hold up better than your brother or Sora did, because I thought for sure they were gonna collapse after a few seconds into some of my training courses."

"Were not," Sora and Roxas both snapped at the satyr. Not that Phil really seemed to pay it any mind.

"Though are you sure you're related to Roxas? I mean, I'll admit, I can kinda see it in the eyes, but otherwise, I'd have thought you were related to that redhead that Sora was sweet on," Phil confessed.

"Yeah, I'm definitely Roxas's twin sister, and by extension, Sora's younger sister, but you're not the first to say something like that," Xion shrugged with a smile.

"Sora's… Wait, so Roxas, does that mean that you're also…" Phil's unfinished question received only smiles in answer, and that certainly helped to confirm it for him. "Huh. I coulda sworn that you were related to Ven or something. You know, because of…"

"The hair? Yeah, we know," both blondes chorused as one.

"Well, yeah, and the fact that you both look so much like each other, even in terms of your outfits," Phil pointed out. "I mean, if Ventus were a lot younger and didn't have that crazy beard, I'm sure that it would be near impossible to tell you apart."

"Why is everyone always making it a point to bring up my beard," grumbled Ventus to himself. His question was not likely to get an answer, so he just pressed on with the business at hand. "Anyways Phil, we could actually use your help to make sure that we're able to get Hercules that break he needs."

"Oh yeah? Well now I'm really interested. What's up," Phil asked.

* * *

They probably should have seen this coming. Really, it should have been obvious that Phil would react this way once he was told what they were planning to do to help get Hercules a break from all the back-to-back action he had been dealing with lately. Still, they were not going to get any help from Phil until they told him, so they gave him the quick summary and braced themselves for his response. It was pretty much what they were expecting, but that did not make it any less annoying when he started laughing and just did not stop.

"Is he done yet," asked Roxas, being the one who had gotten annoyed with the satyr first.

"Roxas, you can see that he's still laughing, same as me. Why are you asking me that," Sora questioned in return.

"Ugggh! It's been almost half an hour now since he started," groaned Xion, while Donald grumbled something unintelligible under his breath. Given what she knew about the court magician, she was sure that she should be glad that Donald's voice had returned to its usual state after they left Marvel Universe.

Ventus just watched as Phil kept on belting out loud laughter for a few more minutes, until he too finally lost what patience remained and said, "Okay Phil, you've had your laugh. Now will you please get serious and help us out?"

"I-I'm sorry, but…Ah-ha…Ah-HAHAHA," Phil continued laughing, only now, everyone was sure that he was faking it. "Y-you guys wanna take on Hades?! HAHAHAHAHA!"

"And what's so funny about that," Donald hotly demanded.

"Yeah! Me, Donald, and Sora beat Hades last year, so why would this be any different," Goofy pointed out.

"Because last year, you were fighting him up here in the Coliseum, meaning you had an advantage over him. What you're talking about is fighting him on his own turf," Phil reminded them. "Not exactly too smart."

"Hey, you do want Hercules to get a break so that he can rest up, don't you? Then why not help us get trained up so we can fight him in the Underworld," Roxas countered.

Phil's laughter finally stopped after hearing that, and he smiled a little wider as he said, "Now that's definitely the Roxas I remember. Still got a lot of nerve to go with the spunk that the rest of you guys got, I'll give you that."

"So then you'll help us out," Xion asked, a touch of hopefulness entering her voice.

"Sure, why not? And hey, you never know; maybe you guys can beat him. Stranger things have happened, right," Phil shrugged.

"You have no idea," the four Keyblade wielders all said as one.

Phil did not ask any more questions after that, and soon set to work on getting each member of the Keyblade Legion to run through the training courses and exercises that he already had set up and ready to go. Sure, they could only go one at a time, but that gave Ventus a chance to get in some training with any of his apprentices that were not currently going through said course. Obviously, he spent a bit more time in helping Xion to refine her skills in fighting with a reverse grip, but when she was running through the exercises, he made sure that Roxas got a lot of attention, whether it was in terms of his skills with one Keyblade or both. That was not to say that Sora did not get any attention at all, as Ventus decided to help Sora get his magic back to full strength at last. He probably spent the most amount of time doing that when it came to his first apprentice, but Sora was certainly not complaining with the results. Considering that this was the world where he learned the basic versions of his default arsenal of spells, it only felt right that he get all of those same spells back to their original level here as well. A real case of things coming full circle if you will.

Aside from that, Sora also took this opportunity to strengthen his skills with the Fire Ring, having not wanted to set himself on fire again like he did the last time he tried so much as Fira Ring. Plus, Ventus also took this as a chance for him to teach Sora some water magic as well, and before he knew it, Sora was already casting the simple stream of water like he would any of his other basic level spells. Clearly his return to his original level of magic ability was much quicker than any of them were expecting it to be, but then again, it's not like Sora was forced to get there on his own. Other than that, Sora seemed to spend a lot of time helping Xion with her own training, whether it was in terms of magic, swordsmanship, or some other variety of skill. Every second she was not able to spend on Phil's training regimens or with Ventus, Xion was with Sora, learning a few more tricks of the trade from her senior apprentice, and if she were being honest, she was picking up more tips from Sora to make things easier for her than it seemed like she did when working with Ventus. Not that Ven did not do anything to help in her training, but something about the way Sora was coaching her just seemed to click better with Xion for some reason.

Sora was not the only one who was taking charge of teaching though, as Roxas was also helping his siblings get a better handle on fighting with two Keyblades. Sure, the two had gotten better the more that they had used their Valor Forms, but a little more instruction never hurt anyone, and since he was the only one any of them knew who could use two Keyblades, the job of teaching Sora and Xion how to fight with two Keyblades fell to Roxas. The blonde did not mind though; he saw this as a chance for him to return the favor of the other two helping him to finally get a strong handle on his fire, ice, lightning, and healing magic, so what was there for him to complain about?

Eventually, after everyone had made at least one or two runs through Phil's regimen, and Ventus was allowed to focus on trying to help Roxas and Xion learn either their first Shotlocks or Unique Command Styles. He was determined to help those two learn those particular abilities a bit more quickly than Sora had, at least in terms of Command Styles, but so far, neither of them had really made a lot of progress in either department. Roxas would sometimes even insist that he did not really need to learn either of those abilities, but that idea was easily shot down after Ventus dragged him into a sparring match, where the younger blonde was soundly defeated by his master's Fever Pitch Command Style. Xion on the other hand had taken to insisting that she was at least getting close to learning one of hers, but she could not say for certain as to which of the two it was. Either way, their progress in getting those powers unlocked had been slow going, and by the time that they noticed Hercules returning from his trip to Mount Olympus, it had not gotten any farther, much to their disappointment.

It was actually at that same point when they decided to call their sessions to a close, and much to their surprise, Phil was the first one to actually do so. "Alright, you all should be good for now, so if you don't mind, I've gotta take off for a little bit."

"Huh? Just like that," Ventus asked, surprised that Phil would suddenly just leave out of the blue.

"Yep. Just like that. There's a very important matter I need to take care of," Phil informed them.

"And what would that be," asked a curious Xion.

"None of your beeswax," Phil immediately and rather rudely brushed off. "Look, Herc's back, so you can go and ask him if he got that stone you all need so badly. Best of luck dealing with Hades. You're gonna need it."

Despite his bravado, the Legion could all tell that Phil was trying to hide something with the way he was talking, and seeing him rush off the way he did only added more proof to the idea. Still, he did have a point when he said that they needed to talk with Hercules about the Olympus Stone now that he was back, so if he wanted to go off on some important, secret task, then like he said, that was his business. With nothing else to do and a way forward in their task now available to them, the group made their way over to Hercules, eager to get the Olympus Stone and take another shot at talking Hades into easing up on the monster attacks. Their moods quickly dropped though when they saw Hercules looked a bit down, and if their past luck in these types of matters was any indication, they were sure that meant they were about to get some bad news.

"Hey you guys, I've got some bad news," Hercules said when he spotted his friends approaching. "The Olympus Stone has been stolen."

"Say what?!" Sora and Ventus both exclaimed.

"By who," asked Goofy.

"We don't know who did it yet," Hercules informed them. "All we're sure of is that it was a guy in a black, hooded cloak, and he had a bunch of creatures in white working for him."

Hearing that last part instantly clued the team in on who the culprit more than likely was, even before Roxas had said it aloud. "The Organization."

"And the Nobodies," Xion finished for him.

"You know something about who did it," Hercules asked.

"Unfortunately," both twins replied with a sigh.

"Or at least, we have a good idea about who did it," Ventus quickly stated, much to everyone's confusion. "Hey, just because they wore a black, hooded cloak and worked with creatures in white, doesn't automatically mean that it was Organization XIII who did it."

"But it doesn't really leave that many other suspects, either," Sora pointed out.

Ventus would have to give him that, and he then turned back to Hercules and said, "Either way, if it is the Organization, we should be able to track them down and get the stone back. We're still going to need to borrow it for a little while though, if that's okay."

"Of course. I was going to get for you guys originally; it's only right that you get to use it if you can find the thief and get it back from them," Hercules assured him, much to everyone's relief. He then asked, "By the way, have any of you seen Meg recently?"

"Hmm…Nope, sorry," Sora said after a moment of thought.

"I don't think I've seen her since that chat we all had in the lobby," Xion shrugged in response, and the others all gave similar answers soon after.

"Oh, I see," Hercules sighed, clearly feeling a little depressed.

"Is everything okay, Herc," asked Ventus.

Just before Hercules could answer, someone else suddenly spoke up, but his voice lacked any of the concern his question should have held, even as he placed a hand on the worried hero's shoulder. "Yeah, what's wrong your hero-ness? Feeling a little under the weather?"

Everyone knew in an instant who the new arrival to the conversation was, so it was no surprise that they all started to assume battle-ready positions even before Hercules spun around to glare at Hades, even after some of them jumped a little at the ruler of the Underworld's sudden arrival. "Seriously, again with the surprise entrance," Xion had exclaimed as she got prepared for battle with the others. "I thought you were supposed to be all flashy or at least let out a blast of smoke every time you appeared out of nowhere like this. Why the sudden need to forgo any dramatics?"

"Uh, excuse me, I do believe that, unless I'm mistaken, I was talking with Wonderboy over here, and not some little peanut," Hades rudely waved away, clearly trying to get under Xion's skin.

Needless to say, his ploy worked, as Xion immediately became cross with at least one part of the Lord of the Dead's comment if nothing else. It certainly showed a lot better when she summoned out Two Become One to signal how ready to she was to attack. "'Little peanut?!' Why I oughta…!"

"Whoa! Easy! Easy there, Sis," Roxas rapidly cautioned as he and Sora came to stand in her way from either side.

"Yeah, let's not do anything too hasty like letting this low-life get to you, Xion. At least, not just yet," added Sora. He then lowered his voice a bit so he could whisper, "Besides, we still need to try and talk him into letting up on the monster attacks so Herc can get a break, remember?"

As Xion took a deep breath to try and calm down, Hades scowled at the sight of Sora, mentally promising that he would deal with him soon enough, but right now, he had a more important reason for being here, and he was going to address that first. With that in mind, he went back to his conversation with Hercules, picking up right where he left off. "You know, I thought staying in perfect shape was part of the hero job description. You know what I'm saying?"

"So is getting a good rest, something that isn't really possible when you're dealing with a new monster attack day-in and day-out," Ventus interjected, much to Hades's annoyance. Ven was not going to let that stop him from pressing his point though. "I mean, after all you've been through with Herc, I'd have thought you'd want to only beat Hercules when he's at his best. You know, get a win that you can truly appreciate and savor?"

Hades did seem to consider that for a moment, before he finally just said, "Sure, I suppose I could try and do that. Let the kid have a few seconds to catch his breath, rest up, be ready to knock heads in top form, all in the hopes of putting him in his place like some egomaniacal villain, but that type of thing…Meh, overrated. Plus, I'm not some, cheap, cliché, gullible, idiot villain like those guys that I hung out with a year ago, in case you haven't noticed."

"No, you're just the type that likes to make deals, underhanded or otherwise, so long as they can play in his favor somehow," Ventus could not help but snip in return.

"Well, you're not wrong," Hades chuckled, acting like it was no big deal one way or the other if Ven was. He then noticed Hercules slowly closing in on him as if preparing to jump him from the corner of his eye, and stated, "Oh, but before we continue this little chat about character traits and such, I think you might be interested in a little tidbit of mildly interesting news that I came to share with you, Wonderboy. Seems your dear, sweet little Nutmeg went and got herself lost in the Underworld."

"You mean you kidnapped her," Hercules accused, now fully charging at Hades in the hopes of tackling him, only for the god to teleport away from harm in a burst of smoke.

"Well, maybe," Hades shrugged once he had reappeared again. "But why get caught up in the details?"

"I can think of a few good reasons, even without mentioning our past experiences with you," Sora retorted.

"Hey, Spiky. Keep your mouth shut, huh? I've already got a few scores to settle with you, so I wouldn't go adding onto the list anymore than you already have if you know what's good for ya," Hades growled at Sora.

"What? Still sore over how me, Donald, and Goofy beat you last year, or how we interrupted your chat with Auron a short time ago," Sora bravely taunted.

"Oh kid, you seem to be forgetting about that very first offense you made against me, but I'm sure I'll jog your memory of it right before I drop you in the deepest, darkest dungeon the Underworld has to offer," Hades sinisterly chuckled.

"Huh? Very first offense," Sora repeated in question, feeling pretty confused by that remark. As far as he knew, those were the only things he really did to get Hades upset with him, and he could not remember saying or doing anything that would upset the Lord of the Dead when they first met, so what could he have been talking about? Looking to the rest of his friends for some kind of clue did not really help fill in the blanks, but no one seemed to notice how Ventus had tensed up a little out of nervousness after Hades's last remark.

Thankfully, no one had a chance to notice the bearded blonde's sudden state of concern, as Hercules had suddenly whistled loudly, and a moment later, his trusty stead Pegasus came flying down, ready to whisk Herc away to his obvious destination. While the others were in awe of the winged horse though, Hades was a bit more focused on the hero that was about to climb onto its back. "Ah-ah-ah. You can't leave now, okay? You've got a very important match today against, um…the bloodthirsty Hydra," Hades reminded Hercules with a sinister grin. "I mean, if you don't stick around who knows what kind of 'accidents' might happen?"

"You mean who knows besides you," Roxas accused.

"Because they'd be accidents that you cause," Sora finished.

"Like I said: details, who needs 'em," Hades shrugged again.

"You're just a coward," Hercules snapped.

"Ah well. Can't all be heroes," said Hades as he disappeared in another blast of smoke and brimstone.

Hercules was not sure what to do now. He knew that if he did not stay to fight the Hydra, people would get hurt, starting with everyone at the Coliseum, but at the same time, he had to rescue Meg before something happened to her. It was pretty much a guarantee that Hades would not hesitate to hurt her in any way imaginable, and Hercules just could not bear the thought of anything happening to her. He just was not sure what to do right now. It was truly the oldest and greatest dilemma that all heroes face at some point or another: to save one life or many more. Lucky for Hercules, he had a way to do both. He just needed a few of his friends to remind him of that.

"Don't worry. We've got your back, Herc," Ventus assured his friend.

"Yeah, we can go and save Meg while you deal with the Hydra, no problem," Sora agreed without a second thought.

"Are you guys sure," Hercules asked. He wanted to save Meg and everyone here, but he did not want to put his friends in danger just so he could.

"Positive. We're heroes too, you know," Donald proudly reminded him.

"Junior heroes, Donald," Goofy once again reminded him.

"Stop saying that," snapped Donald.

"Hey, we were likely going to find that thief somewhere in the Underworld anyways, so it shouldn't be too hard for us to save Meg too while we're at it," Xion pointed out. When the others looked at her in confusion, she was quick to figure out what they were thinking about, and said, "Where else would they go if they stole the Olympus Stone? The thing is supposed to keep someone safe from the Underworld Curse after all."

"She has a point," Roxas agreed. He then smiled to Hercules and said, "Just leave all of that to us."

Hercules thought it over for a few more seconds before he finally sighed and nodded to the team as he said, "Okay. I'm counting on you guys." He then looked to Pegasus and said, "You'd better go with them so they'll have a better chance of finding Meg, okay Pegasus?"

The winged horse neighed in confirmation and then took off into the sky at incredible speeds, much to Legion's amazement. It did not keep Ventus from noticing how Hercules suddenly started tiredly rubbing his eyes though, a sure sign that his friend was about to drop, and he immediately pulled something out of his pocket for the hero. "Here Herc. You look like you could use this."

"Thanks, but I'm fine. Really," Hercules tried to wave off. Too bad Ventus was not going to have it.

"Hercules, you can either take this elixir and drink it willingly, or I can force it down your throat. Your choice," Ventus said with a no-nonsense tone of voice.

Hercules decided to take the safer option and drank the elixir willingly. He was pretty sure that Ventus would not actually force him to drink it, but given the way he was talking when he gave that threat, he did not want to take any chances and test him. Once he had gulped up every last drop of the restorative drink, he then said, "Thanks. When you find Meg, just whistle for Pegasus and he'll be able to get her out of there."

The others all nodded in response, and then rushed off so that they could dive back down into the Underworld. Sure, they knew that doing so without the Olympus Stone was a risk, but their friend was being held prisoner down there along with the thief whole took the stone. It was just a chance they would have to take.

* * *

The team had barely gotten that far into the Underworld when they found a sign trouble again, but thankfully, it was not more Heartless or any other variety of monsters. The bad news was that it was the sight of Phil passed out on the ground. Moving quickly, the Legion was soon by Phil's side and doing whatever they could to get him up again so they could be certain that he was okay, and luckily, it seemed that he was not too seriously hurt.

"Phil, what happened to you," Ventus asked once the satyr was at least able to sit upright.

"Long story short: I spotted this strange guy all dressed in black and chased after him, but then he turned around on me. Next thing I know, I'm seeing stars, and not in a good way. All I wanted was to ask if he was interested in being a backup hero so Herc could take a break. Guess no one ever told him that a simple no usually works just as well," Phil informed them.

"All dressed in black," repeated Donald and Goofy in shock.

"It's gotta be the thief who stole the Olympus Stone," Xion reasoned. She then looked to Phil and asked, "Why would you be following someone like that in the first place?"

"Hey, he was wearing the same outfit that Roxas used to wear back in the day when we first met, so I figured he was probably a lot like him," Phil admitted.

"Yep, I'd say that confirms it was the Organization member we saw down here earlier," Roxas stated, feeling that his earlier comment about the said member being the thief was now justifiably proven. "Fair warning for future reference, Phil: those guys are bad news, and definitely no heroes."

"Then why did it look like you were one of them," Phil asked. "I mean, I'm pretty sure that he was somebody I saw you hanging out with a couple of times when you were here before, so…"

"Uh…I was going through some stuff at the time," was the best answer Roxas could give. He quickly changed the topic soon after though, mainly because he did not want to stay on this one for longer than necessary. "Did you see which way he went?"

"Yeah, down that way," Phil said as he pointed to the large green door. "I'd be careful though; that part of the Underworld is said to be home to a lot of bad stuff. Only the toughest of heroes have a chance of getting in and out of there in one piece."

"Then I guess it's a good thing that we've got plenty of heroes going down there. Heroes who would've been happy to fill in for Herc if you had just asked," Sora proudly declared.

"Oh yeah? You know some guys," Phil perked up, eager to hear about whoever it was that Sora was talking about. When the entirety of the Keyblade Legion all summoned their weapons and assumed heroic poses, Phil felt his excitement die down, and he only said, "Oh, good one…"

"Hey, you saying we can't handle it," Xion demanded, feeling a little insulted for the second time since coming here.

"I'm saying none of you are on Herc's level. Well, except for Ven, he's probably the only one of you that could come close to it," Phil stated like he was talking about the weather.

None of them had a comeback for that, as they were all well-aware of just how strong and capable Ventus really was compared to the rest of them, but it did not matter for the moment. They still had a job to do and little time to spare for an argument with Phil. Just as they were about to race off into the depths of the Underworld again, Phil suddenly called out for them to wait, and rushed over to Roxas and Xion.

"Here, I get the feeling you two might need these," Phil said as he handed them a couple of boxes that he pulled from somewhere on his person.

"What are they," asked Xion after she accepted hers.

Roxas did not wait for Phil to answer, but instead, just went ahead and opened his box. When he did, he let out a surprised gasp at the sight of what was inside, making the whole group turn to him as he retrieved the contents from the box. "It's another Keychain," Roxas exclaimed, showing it off to everyone so that they could see the dark blue chain that was connected to a blue, five-pointed star with a circular gap in the center. "The Abyssal Tide Keychain."

Xion quickly tore open her own box, and found that it too contained a Keychain. This one had a token that took on the shape of a circular, blue hook that nearly formed a complete circle, while almost resembling a dragon's head in appearance, and like Roxas, it did not take Xion long to identify this new Keychain. "Leviathan."

"Another pair of Keychains that you guys used to use," Sora guessed.

"Must be, but how did you get them, Phil," Roxas asked.

"I couldn't really tell you. They just showed up in the lobby one day while I was doing some work on one of the training arenas, along with a note asking for me to hold onto them until a certain, special pair showed up here to reclaim them. I figured that they probably belonged to one of you guys, and what's more specific or special than a pair of Keyblade wielders, am I right?"

"Who was the note from," asked Xion, hoping that might give them a clue as to who had been scattering her and Roxas's old Keychains around the worlds.

"Don't know. It wasn't signed," Phil shrugged. "I didn't recognize the writing either."

If they needed further proof that the Keychains from their old collections had made their way to other worlds, Roxas and Xion certainly had it now, but unfortunately, it also came with yet another new mystery for them: the question of just who it was that scattered them like this. In fact, it was starting to seem like this whole journey was designed to give them one new mystery after another, be it ones that were quickly solved on whatever world they traveled to, or the bigger ones that related to the pasts that they had asked Naminé to wipe their memories of, and it was starting to get a little annoying for both Roxas and Xion.

Sadly, they doubted that they would find any answers to that mystery here, and even if there was a chance that they could, they were not really given the chance to look, as Ventus suddenly said, "Worry about it later. We've still got a job to do."

"Uh, right. Coming," Roxas and Xion stuttered, and they quickly pocketed their newly reacquired Keychains while following their friends into the Underworld once more.

Their dive down became a bit more literal with the first cavern they stepped into. At first, it looked like the floor was just covered with a dense ground fog, but after taking a few steps forwards, Sora found out that it was not by promptly dropping through the dark clouds, and vanishing from sight. Everyone was quick to panic after seeing Sora's fall, but they all soon relaxed when Sora shouted that he was okay and the drop was not even that big. Still, they all took great care as they made their way down to him, and it was a good thing too, because the minute just half of the group had made it to Sora's location they were jumped by more Heartless.

They were not that worried; after all, even the Heartless were dangerous, these were all still just basic, normal Heartless that they dealt with all the time, so they made sure to make quick work of them. That was not to say that they did not have any troubles, or that it would not have gone by quicker if they had full access to all of their abilities, but it was still fairly easy to deal with all the Heartless with just their basic powers and skills. If anything, this was really just served to help them see how all that training at the Coliseum had paid off for them.

For the most part, this mainly showed in the cases of the three Keyblade apprentices, as Sora, Roxas, and Xion were now displaying skills and abilities that they had often struggled with before said run. In fact, if you were to look at how well they were fighting, you would think that they were reading each other's minds as they did. It was certainly not an inaccurate guess, because as it turned out, all that quality time training together ended up being the thing that they needed to finally establish a full D-Link between the three of them, and they were taking full advantage of it. Every time one of them caught sight of an incoming attack one or both of the other two did not notice, they immediately alerted them with a mental shout, leading to the ones who would be attacked to get clear in any way, and more often than not, allow the person who warned them to get a chance to counterattack in their place. Another example would be when they needed to prep for a team-up move, and instead of shouting out a signal to the person they were tag-teaming with, they would just send the signal via the D-Link. As such, the twins managed to pull off a large number of their usual tag-team combos in record time, while Sora was even able to add his own extra touch to those moves, create openings for their attacks, or deliver a final blow when the occasion called for it.

Ventus was happy to see that all three of his apprentices had managed to forge a D-Link between each other, but he was still a bit let down that he was still only able to make one with Sora. It did not stop him from being as extraordinary as usual though, and even if he could not use a D-Link with the kids, he was still able to use the one he had with Donald and Goofy to pull off a similar display of teamwork. Everything from incredible magic attacks to quick, powerful physical ones was at the beck and call of this trio, and to add a little icing on the cake, Ventus even brought about more than a few decisive ends to several fights using his special attacks and magic powers like Salvation. Even with all these incredible displays of magic and fighting prowess, none of it was able to keep the group from getting pretty worn out a little more quickly than they usually would when they had access to their full power.

Still, with or without the ability to fight at full strength, the Legion was still able to get pretty far down into the Underworld without much worry or injury, but there was still no sign of Meg or the thief anywhere. At least, there was not any sign until they came to one large chamber and found someone in an Organization coat standing before the entrance into the next room, and no one wasted any time preparing themselves for what was more than likely an inevitable fight. That is until the Organization member turned around and started talking to them.

"Ah! You again," the guy gasped in fear as he lowered his hood, revealing a face with green eyes and dirty-blond hair that was styled in a mullet. "Wait a sec… Roxas? Xion?"

"That's our names; don't wear 'em out," Xion quipped as she summoned out her Keyblade while Roxas did the same.

"Hey! Whoa there! Let's not get too crazy or anything," the Organization member insisted. "I mean, you wouldn't really want to fight one of your old buddies, would you?"

"That's funny, because I don't think we need to remember all that much about our time with the Organization to know that Axel was the only actual friend we had in the group," Roxas retorted without a second thought.

"Now that hurts. I thought we were close! I mean, come on Xion, don't you remember all the times I tried to cheer you up with some music after a bad day of dealing with Saïx, or what about that time when you wanted to learn a little bit more about music in general and came to me because I was the best musician you knew," the Organization member asked. "Oh, and Roxas, how about all those times we came to the Coliseum on this world and I backed you up in some of your matches?"

Xion's eyes furrowed in an effort to help bring the memories he was talking about to the surface, while Roxas just rolled his eyes and responded without thinking. "If by 'backed me up' you mean that you slipped away at the first chance you got so you could avoid doing any work, then yeah, I'm…starting to remember that pretty well."

"What do you mean 'starting to remember'? Don't tell me you seriously forgot all about your old buddy Number IX? You know, Demyx," said the newly identified Nobody.

Roxas and Xion were not sure how to respond to that, but Sora did have an answer of his own loaded. "It doesn't matter if they do remember you or not. Right now, I think you have something that doesn't belong to you, and this is the only chance you'll have to give it back."

"What? I don't know what you're talking about… Uh Other Roxas," Demyx feigned ignorance.

"Excuse me," Sora shrugged. "My name is Sora. I thought you guys knew that."

"Don't worry about it too much. From what I've seen during my scouting missions, he's not exactly the brightest bulb in the room," Ventus waved off. "Or the most useful, considering how lazy he does tend to be."

"Okay, now I know you're trying to hurt my feelings," Demyx whined.

"Said the only Nobody in the room who doesn't have a heart. Don't pretend otherwise; you're a terrible actor," Xion accused.

If Nobodies did have any ability to feel, then the look on Demyx's face definitely proved that he was mad now, or at the very least annoyed as he pulled a piece of paper out of his coat sleeve and began reading it aloud. "Okay, let's see here… 'If the subjects fail to respond, use aggression to liberate their true disposition.' Right. Did they ever pick the wrong guy for this one…"

The Legion just stared at him for a few minutes, hardly believing that this guy could be a member of Organization XIII, with or without the fact that he was a Nobody, until they all ultimately came to one conclusion. "This guy's weird," Donald muttered.

"You can say that again," Ventus nodded.

Demyx then drew a circular object from his sleeve, and judging by the lightning bolt emblem on it, the Legion instantly figured out exactly what it was. "The Olympus Stone," Sora and Xion gasped.

"So he _is_ the thief," Goofy accused.

"I knew it," shouted Roxas.

"Now that's just plain rude," Demyx complained.

"Doesn't make it any less true," Xion pointed out, preparing her Keyblade for action once again. "Give us back the Olympus Stone, Demyx. Now."

"Hmmm…I guess I could…Or I could make you work for it," Demyx grinned wickedly. He then raised the stone above his head, and after allowing it to bathe him in a shower of light, he called forth a weaponized sitar, strummed a few of the strings, and shouted, "Dance water! Dance!"

All at once, various different creatures that looked a little like clones of Demyx made out of water suddenly formed around the group and began spinning around the area with the Keyblade Legion right in the center. For a brief second, it looked like they were just for show, until they suddenly rushed at the group as if intending to dog-pile them. Luckily for them, a majority of the Legion managed to roll or jump out of the way, save for Xion, who merely dispersed as many as she could with a quick spinning attack. Upon completion of her spin, Xion leapt right at Demyx, determined to knock him out quickly, but she was intercepted by another water form right when she got close, giving Demyx his chance to slip back and summon some more. Seeing his sister was now having to deal with more of these guys, Roxas quickly rushed to her aid and cut down several of the forms with both of his Keyblades.

Donald and Goofy were quick to join the twins in battle against the water forms, leaving Ventus and Sora to try and close in on Demyx. Too bad for them, they ended up having just as much luck getting through to the sitar player as the rest of their team was, because once again, more water forms appeared to bar their path. It really looked like they were going to have to get rid of the pesky, oversized water drops if they were going to land even one hit on Demyx, so the team switched up their focus to destroying every water form that appeared within their sights. The good news was that these water forms tended to be very easy to destroy, but the downside was that there were so many of them that it was easy for the Legion to get overwhelmed if they were not careful. More to the point, without their full strength and only their regular magic to rely on, the team was not sure how long this fight could go on for, and they could not afford to waste any time right now.

Having realized this, each Keyblade wielder did whatever they could to find an opening they could exploit so they could speed things up a little. At least, two of them were, while the twins were able to think of something pretty quickly. Ever since Demyx had introduced himself, more memories of him had started to come back to Roxas and Xion, and with those memories, came the knowledge about this particular ability of his, and some of its weaknesses, so it was not long before the easiest of those weaknesses came to their minds. Xion was the first to take advantage of it by rushing the next water form that was within arm's reach, and grabbing it firmly in one hand. It tried to get away, but she held on with a fiercely strong grip, and eventually managed to force it into destroying several more that were close to her.

When the others saw what Xion did, they all grinned mischievously and set to work on repeating her actions, grabbing a water form whenever they could and using it as a weapon that could destroy several more at once, until eventually, the number of water forms had dwindled enough to the point where Donald and Goofy were able to get a clear shot on Demyx, and they both took it without hesitation. One mighty shield throw and a blast of Firaga from the two best friends later, and Demyx was knocked on his butt, putting an end to his sitar strumming and causing all the remaining water forms to collapse into harmless puddles of water. He probably would have scrambled to retrieve his weapon and start up again had he not noticed how everyone had him surrounded with their weapons trained on him.

"Ehehehe…Now is there really any need for the silent death threats," Demyx nervously chuckled, hoping to squeeze out some way to avoid any further conflict.

"Last chance, Demyx. The Olympus Stone. Now," demanded Ventus.

"Okay, okay! Here! Take it," Demyx conceded, passing the stone over to the Keyblade master as fast as he could.

The Keyblade master then stepped back, raised it above his head, and allowed the magic inside the stone to wash over his friends and teammates, giving them a sense of relief as the Underworld Curse's effects were lifted from their bodies. As the light from the stone began to fade away, the Keyblade wielders' armor pieces also let off a quick flash of light that was almost identical to the light from the Olympus Stone, and upon seeing the smirk he was giving them, the three apprentices knew that meant that its magic had now been added to their armor, just like he said it would be. With the Olympus Stone now in their hands and their powers fully restored, the Legion was more than ready to press on in their search for Meg. They did not think it would be too big a deal to leave Demyx where he was for now, considering how harmless he appeared, but he was not about to let them walk away just yet.

"Wait, Roxas, Xion, are you guys sure you don't want to come back to us? I mean, what's the harm in joining up with the only guys who really get you again," Demyx tried to appeal to the twins.

"First off, you don't get us. They do," Roxas started, waving to Sora and the others with his latter statement.

"And second, the 'harm' is that they would likely destroy us on sight or turn us into mindless puppets that wouldn't care about anything but fulfilling the Organization's goals," Xion finished.

"What? No they wouldn't. You guys are like MVPs; why would they get rid of you," Demyx tried to insist, and from the way he was talking, Roxas and Xion got the sense that he really believed what he was saying.

"Gee, I don't know, why don't you ask the army of Nobodies and Heartless that they sent after us when we ran off, or how they sent someone who literally said they had to destroy us if we refused to come back," Roxas easily shot back.

"Wait, what," Demyx gasped. "When did that happen? No one told me anything about that! Why am I always the last to know these things?" When he did not receive any answers to his musings, Demyx looked to see that the Legion was starting to leave again, and quickly called out, "Hey, hey, wait a minute! Don't leave yet!"

"We already beat you! Just scram already," snapped Donald, brandishing his staff in a threatening manner as if to drive the point home.

"Okay, fine, I'll get going and tell the big boss about why we shouldn't bother with this world and about the Absent Silhouette I found."

"Wait, wait, wait," Roxas called out after hearing that last bit. "Absent what?"

"The Absent Silhouette. You know, the shadowy presences of those who were slain," Demyx lightly elaborated. When he only got blank looks from the whole group, he groaned, "Oh come on! I'm sure you guys saw one when you were down here earlier. I mean, how could you have missed it?"

Hearing Demyx mention the last time they were down there was the piece that completed the puzzle for Roxas. "Are you talking about that weird book?"

"Exactly, but they come in a bunch of different shapes and sizes," Demyx confirmed. "The item in the orb belongs to its owner, who is now nothing more than a shadowy presence. They can manifest into a full form if you touch the orb, but the minute they do, they'll start attacking you without hesitation, so you would have to fight them if you want to survive."

"So what? Are they like some kind of Heartless, or Nobody," Ventus prodded.

"Heartless, no. Nobody…Eh, kinda," Demyx shrugged. "I didn't really get all the details, but from what I gathered, I guess you could say they're like…the closest things Nobodies have to ghosts."

"G-g-g-ghosts," Roxas shuddered.

"Yep. Absent Silhouettes are the remains of a Nobody that was defeated, and if they stick around for too long…well, no one knows what could happen," Demyx shrugged. "But I'll bet that you guys could do something to find out."

Just when the team was about to question Demyx on what he meant by that, he disappeared into a Corridor of Darkness without another word. Seeing that he was finally gone did not bring the relief they all thought it would, because he had just added a few more questions to their growing list. Just why would he go ahead and tell them about all of that, and why did it seem like he was encouraging them to fight find more of these Absent Silhouettes and fight them along with that first one? It did not make any sense in any of their minds.

"Just what is he on about," Roxas muttered.

"Worry about it later! We still have to rescue Meg," Donald reminded them.

"He's right. We can save everything else for later," Ventus agreed, and after receiving further nods and words of agreement from the others, they were all quickly moving to get back on track with their current mission.

* * *

The rest of the Legion's trip down into the Underworld passed by very uneventfully, much to their dismay. They were all eager to let loose and showcase how they were now able to fight at full strength in the Underworld, and the only thing that was more upsetting for them was the fact that even after reaching the very last chamber, there was still no sign of Meg anywhere. Then again, they had only just entered the last chamber and had not really looked around that much yet, so maybe there was a clue somewhere inside. It was not hard to find such a clue; it was practically staring them in the face right after they entered.

There, right in the middle of the room was a large rock with a faint glow around it, and carved onto one side was an image of a sleeping Megara, its outline glowing with a faint, rainbow color. That alone made it suspicious, and the golden keyhole that was right in the middle of the rock only made the group's suspicions grow even more. It was not just because it was a sign of where they could likely find Meg, though; the fact that it was such an obvious, outstanding clue set out so many warning bells you would think that the every one of the emergency responders in a single city was being mobilized for a massive emergency. Seeing this, they all agreed to do a bit more looking around before they did anything, but sadly, they did not find any other way forward.

"So we all know this is likely a trap, right," Ventus asked the group at large.

"Yep," Sora, Roxas, and Xion all answered as one.

"But do we really have any other choice if we want to save Meg," questioned Goofy.

"Uh-uh," Donald replied with a shake of his head, an action that was shared and repeated by the rest of their friends.

"In which case, the most we can really do is make sure we're ready for anything," Ventus concluded. He then reached into his pocket and fished something out. The item in question turned out to be a Keychain with a teal-colored chain and a gold Olympus Stone, which he did not hesitate to snap onto his Keyblade in the place of Guardian Wind's.

The minute Ventus had removed Guardian Wind's Keychain, his Keyblade had reverted to its original, base form of Wayward Wind, but it was soon changing again once he had snapped the other Keychain on, and this one certainly looked like something that was right at home on this world. The blade itself was light grey and the sides of the guard were slate gray, both being topped by white, cloud-shaped swirls. The handle, from could be seen of it, was black, and the entire Keyblade sported gold highlights. At the very tip of the blade was what looked like a golden trophy, with one of its handles being upturned to resemble an arm being flexed, and providing the Keyblade with its teeth, and finishing up the look of the Keyblade who's Keychain Ventus received on his very first visit to this world: Mark of a Hero.

Seeing Ventus trading out his usual default Keyblade for a different one, the rest of the Keybearers decided that they may as well follow his lead and began rifling through their own collections of Keychains. Roxas and Xion did not really have much of a selection to choose from, given that they only had three Keychains apiece aside from the ones they already had equipped on their Keyblades, assuming you were counting that of the Keyblade that Xion used while in Valor Form. Still, it did not stop them from swapping out their Keychains if they felt that any of them would be better suited for the job than their current ones were.

In the end, Xion decided that it could not hurt to go in using her newest Keyblade, and was soon watching as Two Become One transformed into the Leviathan Keyblade. The new Keyblade had a guard whose two halves did not connect at the top of its handle, a light blue shaft, and slightly concaved edges. The head and teeth took a shape that matched its Keychain token, with the most major difference being it was divided into alternating black and blue segments, further adding to its draconic-like appearance. Xion would probably have switched over to Hidden Dragon, but she figured that since they were likely to get into a fight with Hades, it would be better to use a Keyblade that seemed to have a clear water theme to it, at least from what she could tell.

Roxas was of a similar mindset when he switched out Oathkeeper with the Abyssal Tide, but he also decided to exchange Oblivion for Pain of Solitude. The first of his new Keyblades was varying shades of blue, much like Xion's Leviathan Keyblade, with a black handle that possessed a spike in its pommel. The left half of the guard's handle was light blue with a small, black section at the base, while the right half was black, curved outward slightly, and did not connect with the bottom half of the handle. The head of the blade formed a large hook that curved to the left, and its teeth were comprised of three curved spikes that lined the outer edges of the hook. Meanwhile, Pain of Solitude was a much different story, as it sported various different shades of lilac and violet throughout a good deal of its design. Its guard was comprised of spikes curving downwards, while the teeth bore a striking resemblance to the top of half of the general Nobody sigil, albeit with two of the spikes being longer than the others. The blade itself was a simple, black spike that ran through the spikes at the tip, all-in-all, giving it a look of something that almost seemed to represent a lonesome existence.

Finally, there came Sora's choice of Keychain for this upcoming fight, which took a bit longer since he did not have a shortage of blades to choose from. In the end though, he figured that now was the perfect time to test out his newest Keychain, and he quickly switched Kingdom Key's for the one belonging to Excelsior. The handle was a bright red color, while the guard was similar in shape to that of Kingdom Key's, colored blue with white outlining on the edges, and each point of the box-shaped guard was also decorated with circular designs that were reminiscent of Captain America's shield. The blade itself was a large, streamlined shape that was colored red and gold much like Iron Man's armor, and there even seemed to be a glowing, ARC Reactor midway up the blade, and the red portions seemed to be decorated with a black web pattern, while the blade's teeth looked a lot like the head of Mjolnir, but with glowing, lightning designs all around it. In short, the blade looked like it had been made using elements from Spider-Man and three of the mightiest Avengers.

"Whoa! Now that's pretty cool," Roxas breathed in awe at the sight of Excelsior in all of its glory, while Sora did a few practice swings to get a good feel for the blade.

"Yeah, it does look pretty cool, but it's a bit heavier than Kingdom Key. I mean, not as heavy as Metal Chocobo, but it does have a pretty decent, additional weight all the same," Sora admitted after a few more swings. "How about you guys? Notice any changes in your Keyblades aside from the obvious?"

"Well, now that you mention it, mine do feel a bit lighter, but I'm guessing that's partly due to the fact that they have a less bulky size than Oathkeeper and Oblivion," Roxas confessed as he weighed both blades in his hands.

"Same here, but then again, that could come in handy. Lighter blades mean faster strikes, you know," Xion reasoned.

Sora and Roxas both nodded in agreement with Xion's assessment, and Ventus had to smile at how quickly she had reached that conclusion too, but he soon brought their attention back to the matter at hand by saying, "Okay guys; time to get back to work. Ready?"

"Ready," everyone chorused afterwards.

Ventus then pointed his Keyblade at the stone with Meg's image on it, and after a beam shot out from the tip of his Keyblade and made contact with the Keyhole, the rock began to glow a little brighter until it finally vanished altogether, leaving a large hole in the ground with a faint glow around its circumference. Everyone had instantly braced themselves for any kind of ambush that may or may not come at any second, and they did not relax until they were absolutely sure that nothing was coming. It was a brief spell before they finally realized that nothing was going to jump out at them, but they still held an air of caution as they approached their new path forward, or downward in this case.

Upon diving down into the hole, they came out in a large, circular chamber that was surprisingly well-lit in comparison to the rest of the Underworld, likely due to the large beam behind them that served as the way back out, and there, standing just a few feet away from them, was Hades and a tied up Meg. Seeing both their captive friend and the God of the Dead standing before them, everyone immediately brandished their weapons, as Ventus shouted, "Let her go, Hades! Before we make you!"

No one was surprised that Meg smiled in relief when she saw the Keyblade Legion had come to her rescue, but they were a little put off by the sight of Hades's grin. That soon grew to worry and confusion when Hades chuckled, "Wow, looks like he wasn't kidding. Now those are definitely what I call keys. Thanks for your help, kids. I'd say we're all now on track to having the slate between us wiped clean. Now have a nice day."

"Hey wait," Sora shouted, but by the time he was within reach, Hades had already popped away in his usual burst of smoke and brimstone. Seeing that the villain had escaped to scheme another day, Sora could not help but wonder aloud, "What was that all about?"

"Don't know, but it's never a good sign when the bad guys are happy to see heroes succeed, so I say we get out of here while we have a chance," Ventus reasoned.

"It might be too late for that! Behind you," Meg shouted in warning.

Right after Meg had shouted her warning, a familiar, bellowing laugh reached everyone's ears, and they all turned to see Pete standing triumphantly with a squad of Heartless flanking him on either side. "Surprise nimrods! I told you I wasn't gonna let you get off easy," the big bully chortled. Clearly he seemed to think he had an advantage, because he kept on mocking them by adding, "Aw, what's wrong? Can't fight in the Underworld? Oh boo-hoo-HOO!"

"You sure about that? Because I'm feeling just fine," Ventus questioned, his Keyblade out and ready again right after Pete had finished his annoying laugh. Just to prove his point, an aura of energy began surging around him, and quickly came to settle as he shouted, "Command Style: Fever Pitch!"

"Wh-WHA?!" Pete gasped in disbelief. "How'd you do that?! You're not supposed to be able to do that down here!"

"Hey, haven't you heard? Curses are meant to be broken," Xion quipped in return right as her clothes changed to the gold and emerald colors of her Valor Form.

Pete only growled angrily. "D'oh, it doesn't matter either way! There's no escape for any of you this time. CHARGE!"

At once, several Hook Bats swooped in to attack, but Ventus was too fast for them thanks to his personal Command Style, she was able to avoid and take them out very easily. Xion was just as fast in her reaction, as she simply ran to one side before rushing the Heartless that Pete had set loose on them, cutting them down in several fast flashes of her two Keyblades. The other boys were soon joining in on the action, but Goofy tended to stay close to Meg so he could keep her safe. Much to their surprise, Pete actually did join his dark minions in fighting them this time, but Donald, Roxas and Sora were able to counter and engage him the minute they realized he was in the fight too.

A quick blast of his Typhoon Barrage Shotlock, and Sora was able to blast several Heartless out of the fight while sending Pete flying through the air towards Roxas. The blonde did not hesitate to unleash his own, high-speed attack, and instantly delivered several slashes to Pete before the overweight cat had even hit the ground. Apparently his big size was not just for show though, as Pete was up on his feet again and ready to attack, until he was suddenly blasted in the face with a fireball, courtesy of Donald. Angry at the magician's sneak attack, Pete immediately leapt up to unleash a powerful ground-pound attack that made Donald stumble a little, leaving him open for when Pete threw out a fireball like a bowling ball. Another wave of his hand allowed Pete to call down a blast of lightning magic that would have singed Donald's feather off of his body had Roxas not come in to block the blast with Abyssal Tide and Pain of Solitude, and he was quick to begin a counterattack right after. The speed at which Roxas attacked certainly seemed faster than normal, proving Xion's theory about how the lighter Keyblades meant he could deliver faster attacks, but the downside was that it seemed they did not pack quite as much of a punch as his normal ones did. Thankfully, Sora was able to make up for that, as he proved when he dropped in to hit Pete with an attack from above using Excelsior.

When his Keyblade hit both Pete and the ground, everyone could swear that they heard it make a sound that was similar to the one Captain America's shield often made, and from what they could see, it was also accompanied by a blast of lightning that definitely did not come from Sora's usual lightning spell. Sora did not seem to notice though, as he was more preoccupied with slamming his Keyblade into Pete, and every swing that connected seemed to pack more power in it than the last. Even when Pete created a magic shield to protect himself, Sora did not stop. Instead, when his Keyblade hit the shield, it actually sent Pete rolling around the room like a hamster in its wheel, much to everyone's amusement. That particular attack was something that Sora definitely noticed, given how he was grinning madly at what he just did, but he did not relax just yet. There was still plenty of fight left to be had.

Proof that was from Xion and Ventus's side of the battle, as the two were blazing through Heartless as fast as they could. With their respective power-ups, it was no surprise that destroying the Heartless went by much faster than normal, even for them, and even when Xion's Valor Form finally ran out of power and Ventus unleashed the full power of Fever Pitch, they did not seem to slow down to a major degree. The two back-hand wielding Keybearers were rushing, slashing, and blasting the Heartless so quickly that it was surprising that they had yet to become little more than a pair of blurs as they moved across the battlefield. It could not last forever though, especially when the fight started to drag on for a little longer than it should have.

With all of this happening, and their past experiences with Pete, you would think that the fight would be over in a heartbeat, but apparently, Pete decided to do a little practicing since the last time they saw him, and it showed with how he still kept on throwing out spell after spell while calling more Heartless to his aid to replace whatever number of ones that the team destroyed. Seeing this, the team decided that it was time to cut their losses and just Meg to safety, and without even waiting, Sora rushed over to cut Meg free while Ventus whistled as loudly as he could for Pegasus. Getting Meg free was a simple task, but unfortunately, the winged horse did not appear as they had expected him to when the Keyblade master had whistled, so Ventus tried again, only to receive the same results.

The rest of the Legion were soon whistling as well, but even when they all whistled as one, Pegasus did not show, and Donald eventually warbled, "Where's that bird-brained horse at!? We need to get out of here, now!"

No one had an answer, but it did come soon enough, when Pegasus's loud neigh was finally heard, followed by a grunt of exertion. The next thing Pete knew, one of his own Heartless had hit him from behind, leaving him sprawled on the floor like a welcome mat for Hercules as he rode in on his trusty stead. "Hey, sorry I'm late," Herc greeted with a wave.

The others all grinned in return to the hero, as Ventus replied, "Actually, I'd say you're right on time."

Hercules grinned at the blonde's joke before he dismounted from Pegasus, helped Meg onto said horse's back, and then said, "You guys get Meg out of here. I'll meet you back at the Coliseum."

"Wait, what about you," Sora questioned.

"I'm gonna show these guys what happens when they mess with a true hero," Hercules proudly declared with a flex of his muscles.

"Not alone you won't," Ventus argued. "I've got your back, buddy."

Hercules nodded in thanks as he and Ventus turned to face their opponents, and with a quick wave of his Keyblade, Ven cast a blast of the spell Tornado to clear a path for his friends to run through. Sora quickly led the charge out of the cave, as Pegasus flew safely overhead, but Pete was not too eager to let anyone leave just yet and quickly gave chase. He did not get too far though, as Mark of a Hero was suddenly thrown into his way, the blade stabbing into the ground with a loud clang. After the blade's appearance came Hercules and Ventus, the latter of which easily plucking the Keyblade from the ground as he glared at Pete, and both of them were more than ready to fight. At least, that was what it looked like on the surface.

"You sure you're up for this? I mean, you did just finish fighting a match at the Coliseum," Ventus asked Hercules, worried that his friend might be pushing himself too hard.

"No worries. I've got this," Hercules promised, but even now, Ventus could see a tired look in Herc's eyes that left him worried about just how true that statement was. Still, he knew that even while Hercules was tired, Ventus was more than likely still not strong enough to stop him from fighting right now even if he wanted to, so he just buckled down and prepared to do battle once again.

* * *

Getting out of back to the last chamber they were in was simple enough for Sora and the gang. All they really had to do was touch the beam of light that was in the center of the room, and they were brought back up to where they had been before. From there, it was more than likely going to be an easy run back to the Coliseum, but Meg was not willing to leave just yet. "I'm really worried for him, you guys," Meg told the Legion. No one needed to guess who she was talking about.

"Don't worry. Herc will be okay, and besides, he's got Ven with him. I'm sure they'll be fine," Sora tried to reassure her.

Meg was not having any of it though. "Look, even Herc has his limits and he's clearly about to hit them, assuming he hasn't already. I mean no disrespect to your master, but after all of the fighting he did with you guys back there, I'm not sure if he's able to give Wonderboy the backup he needs on his own. No one can keep winning forever; not even Hercules."

They all knew that Meg had a point there. Even they felt a bit worn down after the endless wave of Heartless Pete had set loose on them. Add in the fact that said creatures were likely to keep coming so long as Pete was able to keep fighting, and even Ventus was likely to drop like dead weight before he was able to stop the bully of Disney Town. Knowing this made every one of them want to go back and help their friends, but at the same time, they could not leave Meg to try and escape on her own, even with Pegasus's help, so there was only one thing that they could do.

"Okay then. Roxas, Donald, and Goofy, you guys take Meg and Pegasus out of here. Xion and I will go and back up Ven and Herc," Sora ordered.

"Wait a minute. Donald and Goofy are more than enough to help Pegasus get Meg to safety. Why are you telling me to go with them," questioned Roxas.

"It's called being cautious. We don't know what you guys will run into on the way back, so it makes sense to have at least one Keyblade wielder go with them. Who better to send than one of our strongest wielders in terms of raw strength," reasoned Sora.

Roxas knew Sora had a point, but he was still against the idea of leaving Xion to fight Pete and the Heartless on her own, even if she was with some of her friends. Goofy was the first to realize why Roxas was against this plan, and soon said, "Now Roxas, I know you're worried about your sister, but you can't keep coddling her forever. There always comes a time when you gotta let your family strike out on their own, otherwise they may never learn how to depend on themselves when things get tough."

"Goofy's right. Xion's plenty strong with or without you. You've said so yourselves, so have a little faith in her," Donald agreed without a second thought.

Hearing what his friends were saying did seem to help Roxas relax a little more, but he still turned to both of his siblings as he said, "Promise me that you'll both be careful and come back in one piece."

It did not take much for either of them to decipher the deeper meaning to his words, and they both smiled to Roxas as they nodded in reply, with Sora saying, "I promise."

"Same here. Now get going already before you make this anymore sappy than it already is, Bro," said Xion with a playful grin.

Roxas and the others all nodded in return, and with that, Pegasus took off once again with Meg on his back, and Roxas, Donald, and Goofy following after him on foot. The second their friends were all out of sight, Sora and Xion shared a brief nod with one another, and then dived back down into the hole that they had just come out of, entering the chamber that the rest of their friends were battling Pete in once again. From the look of things, they made it back just in time, because Hercules was looking more exhausted than ever, and Ventus was starting to pant a little heavily too, indicating that he was probably putting in a bit more effort to protect Herc than he normally would have. It was a little hard to believe that things had already gotten so bad in the short time they were gone, and it made Sora and Xion both begin to wonder just how little resting Hercules had actually done up until now, but they could question him on that after they knocked Pete down a few pegs, so they took aim and fired off a few quick blasts of ice magic to announce their return to the action, destroying or freezing any Heartless that were hit by the icy blast before anyone could blink.

Hercules and Ventus quickly spared a look in the two younger wielders' direction after their attack, but otherwise only grinned to acknowledge Sora and Xion's arrival. Pete on the other hand was much clearer in his feelings about the two returning combatants, as he sneered and growled at them before casting several more spells with the intention of blasting the two several times over. Thankfully none of Pete's spells hit their mark thanks to some quick dodging on their part, but his rapid assault of magic also made it hard for anyone to get close to him and hit back. Thankfully, Xion had gotten a lot quicker on the draw when it came to magic, and was soon firing back with whatever spells she had in her own arsenal. Some ended up blocked or dodged, but the few times that she did manage to score a hit left Pete wide open for her or one of the others to move in and attack for a good deal of time, until Pete either sent some Heartless after them, or found a way to force them back again.

Xion was not the only one to bring a little magic to the good guys' team, as Hercules was powering up his usual golden aura powers as well to give them a little extra edge in the fight, even going so far as to conjure some aura spheres that he could throw at Pete for additional firepower. The only problem there was that doing so seemed to make Hercules more tired every time he did this, and afterwards, it took a little longer to activate his godly aura again. If that was proof of how tired he was, then none of the three Keybearers were sure what could be. Now was hardly the time to be calling him out on it, but given the level of fatigue he was showing, they could not help but feel like they should have tried to do so a little sooner. At the rate things were going, the three were soon finding themselves defending him more than they were attacking Pete or the Heartless, and they were not going to win the fight any time soon if that kept up.

To make matters worse, they eventually felt the ground start to shake beneath their feet while the room began crumbling a little as rocks began dropping from somewhere up above them. It started off as a faint rumble, and steadily grew into a bigger and bigger quake, until it reached the point where it could no longer be ignored, because all these signs could only mean one thing: the cavern was beginning to collapse with them still inside. They all tried to make a run for it when they realized this, but Pete and the Heartless were determined to keep them where they were, regardless of the cavern's stability. Normally, one of them would have pointed out that Pete would be either crushed or trapped down here too if he did not let them leave, but somehow, Sora, Ventus, and Xion just knew that the weasel of a cat had some way of safely escaping at his disposal, so the only ones really in danger were them and Hercules.

Pete only proved this to be true when he chortled, "Oh dear! Looks like your world's about to come crumbling down, and you've got no way out without going through me and the Heartless. So watcha gonna do now, little heroes?"

"Take a wild guess," Ventus retorted as he rushed in with Sora right by his side, and the two immediately began a coordinated attack. Normally it would have worked, but given how long they had been fighting before Hercules had arrived, along with the amount of Heartless Pete still had supporting him, it was a miracle that the master and apprentice were able to land so much as one hit on their foe.

As a result, Pete was able to eventually blast Sora and Ventus away from, and right into a charging Hercules, sending all three sprawling across the floor, and leaving Xion as the only one still standing to challenge Pete. She was not the least bit afraid though, as proven when she glared back at Pete defiantly, Keyblade in hand and ready to attack. When Pete saw how Xion was the only one left to fight him for the moment, he let out another laugh as he said, "Aw, is the little girl gonna cry because she's all by herself? What can you really do now, twerp? I've got your number."

Xion just growled angrily and rushed in, determined to make Pete eat those words. Her efforts were admirable, but ultimately ended in failure, as Pete managed to overwhelm her with both his Heartless squad and his own magic powers, right to the point where she was soon dropping to her knees before him. Xion did not stay down for very long, and the minute she was back on her feet again, she let loose a few more spells to try and lessen the number of Heartless that were around when she moved in to attack again. The only problem was that with every Heartless she destroyed, it seemed like another three took its place, and the only purpose her efforts really served in the end was to make Pete laugh. Not that it lasted for long, because eventually, he began to just grow more annoyed than amused as Xion kept getting back up and trying over and over again to get through his Heartless squad and him no matter how many times she was knocked down.

The next time he managed to blast Xion back, he let out a loud groan as he saw her swallow a whole Ether in one big gulp to replenish her magic energy a little more quickly, and then get back on her feet again, albeit a little more shakily. "Oh, come on. Just call it quits already," Pete grumbled. "You can't win, kid, so why bother to keep tryin'?"

Xion just glared up at Pete and replied, "Because I made a promise to both my brother and a friend; a promise to reunite with that friend one day and to get back to my brother in one piece. Not only that, but my friends…No, my family believes that I have the strength to handle stuff like this. So I'm not about to let any of them down!"

What Xion did not realize was that while she was speaking, her body had started to glow with a faint, teal colored aura that grew brighter and brighter with every word she spoke, so that by the time Sora, Ven, and Hercules had gotten up again, it was just in time to see the aura explode outwards and then settle around Xion's body in a way that the two Keybearers were both very familiar with. "Whoa! Ven, is that what I think it is," Sora gasped in excited awe.

"If you you're thinking that it's a Unique Command Style, then I'd say you're right on the munny, Sora," Ventus gladly confirmed.

Pete seemed a little unsettled by the sudden change Xion had just undergone, but he managed to recover just enough to send more Heartless in to attack while rolling out some more explosive bowling balls. Unlike the last few times though, any attacks that did hit Xion were stopped by a reflective barrier that just sprung up on its own nearly every time an attack was about to hit her. When she finally moved to attack, it looked as though she was skating along the ground, and every one of her swings seemed to be accompanied by one of the basic three elements of magic that they had been taught up until now. Some swings allowed her to incinerate several Hook Bats with a stream of fire, others left some Soldiers frozen in their tracks, and every other flourish of her Keyblade called out a blast of lightning that destroyed any remaining Heartless in an instant. It did not even stop there, as sometimes, Xion would even extend her off-hand out to fire a sphere light magic at any unwitting target that happened to be in her line of sight, and more often than not, Pete turned out to be that target. Seeing all of this made Ventus think of Aqua's Unique Tier One Command Style, with the biggest difference being that Xion did not seem to be casting any spells to attack with the various elements; they all seemed like a natural extension of her new power, and that was before she had spun away to unleash her finisher.

"Command Style: MAGIC TAPESTRY FINISHER," Xion hollered at the top of her lungs after spinning around on one heel while drawing back the arm she held her Keyblade in. Right after announcing the activation of her finishing attack, Xion swung her Keyblade forward, and rushed forward while holding out in front of her while it spun like a windmill. As it spun, everyone could see a mixture of fire, ice, and lightning coating the blade, while the aura around her body lit up even more than usual. Every Heartless she passed by in her charge was quickly struck down by one of three elements circling her spinning blade, while anything in front of her was decimated by all of those same elements at once, plus a bit of light magic. Pete ended up finding out just how much the latter of those hurt very swiftly, as he ended up being the last thing to be hit by the full force of Xion's charge, right before she came to a stop behind him. A quick swing of her blade later then created a powerful explosion that was mix of fire, ice, and lightning all at once that finally knocked Pete out of the fight at last, while Xion herself stood tall and unblinking with a proud smirk on her face.

The others were so amazed by what they had just witnessed that they could barely speak. Sure, this was not the first time that Xion had used a Command Style, but the fact that she had managed to awaken her Unique Tier One Style so early in her training, and certainly much sooner than Sora had his, was an incredible feat on its own, never mind the fact that she had just used said power to end the fight in their favor. It was that last detail that really got Pete riled up, but it was not until he started moaning and groaning again while picking himself up that anyone registered how he was still there.

"You know what? Whatever. This place gives me the creeps anyways," Pete grumbled like the sore loser he is. "I'll deal with all of you nitwits later."

With that, Pete turned tail and ran off, and the heroes were sure that was the end of matters here, until they realized that the room was still shaking. More than that, with how much of it was coming apart, it was likely to be only a matter of time before the whole place collapsed, so no one had any complaints or arguments when the four decided to make a run for the exit. In point of fact, they did not even stop running until they had come out to the main entrance to the Underworld again. Sure, it was a long distance, but none of them really cared that much so long as they managed to put some distance between them and the cave that they had nearly ended up buried alive inside of. It was hard to say if they had hit a stroke of good luck when they did not run into any Heartless on the way out, but nobody really cared right now. They were just glad that the whole mess was over with.

The minute he was sure that they were not going to be jumped by any bad guys again, Sora grinned widely as he grabbed Xion in a one armed-hug while ruffling her hair and laughing happily. "Xion, you were AMAZING! You won by a landslide and awakened your first Unique Command Style," he cheered.

Xion had already started smiling from the moment that Sora had jumped her in such an affectionate embrace, but hearing his excited praise made it grow larger and brighter a lot faster than it already had been. The shower of praise did not stop with Sora though, because Ventus was adding a few words of his own in too. "You have every right to be proud of this Xion. Very few wielders manage to discover and activate their Unique Tier One Command Style so soon into their training, and that's without the fact that even compared to Sora, you managed to get yours in record time."

Even though Ven's comment probably could have been viewed as a jab at him, Sora found that he did not care. He was just too happy for his littler sister's accomplishment just now, and it showed in how he hugged her all the tighter with continued cheers and laughter. Xion was feeling just as ecstatic as Sora, and could not help but comment, "Well what can I say? I have some really good teachers."

That got Sora to finally let go of her, although in a bit more of a panic than some would probably have expected, and he quickly corrected, "Whoa, no! Teacher and sibling disciple. You have a really good teacher and a really good sibling disciple." He then gestured from Ventus to himself as he finished, "Teacher…Sibling disciple."

No one could help laughing or giggling at how silly Sora was acting right now, even if he was not joking about how much the idea of being considered a teacher so soon freaked him out, and Ventus felt it necessary to add a little more fuel to the flames of humor. "I don't know. With how you've been doing lately with showing her all the tricks and skills I've taught you so far, I'm actually starting to think that maybe I was a little too hasty in thinking you weren't ready to take on an apprentice."

"Not funny," retorted Sora, even as the others all continued laughing.

All sense of amusement quickly died when the sound of slow clapping suddenly echoed from behind them, and they all turned to see Hades approaching them once more as he continued his mocking clap. "Very nicely done, Peanut. Now that was some good work back there. Unlike our resident hero washout, Wonderboy over here," Hades drawled. "I mean geez Louise, did you really blow it this time, Herc."

As off-putting as it was to have Hades praising them for getting out of his trap, everyone was a little confused by his latest jab at Hercules. They soon just figured he was referring to how Meg had gotten kidnapped and was now coming to try something else, so it was only natural for Ventus to give the retort that he did. "Just crawl back into your hole already, will you? No one likes a sore loser, Hades."

"Can it, Keyboy Two," Hades snapped.

"Two? Who's one," Sora asked in confusion.

"One would be his old buddy Chickenheart, obviously, and for the record, this conversation does not involve Three, either," Hades supplied, extending his scathing remark to Sora just as swiftly.

"Then how about Key _girl_ ," Xion challenged.

"Or even me," Hercules added. "No one likes a sore loser, Hades. Time to crawl back into your hole."

"Yeah, yeah, Styx and stones," Hades just waved off. "A couple things though. One, Peanut, I'm afraid that you're Keygirl Three, with One and Two being Breezy's girl, Bluebird, and Little Red. And two, you guys might want to go check on that Hydra that Hercules neglected to finish off. I hear things are really…falling apart up there, kids."

"What're you talking about? I beat the Hydra," Hercules stated.

"Did you now? Because, I could swear that I heard a lot of rampaging, roaring, and screaming coming from the coliseum. I mean, there was certainly enough of it to get the rest of your buddies to go running up there in a panic," Hades remarked, and just like that, everyone started to get a little more worried.

Right when they were about to call Hades a liar, Meg suddenly came running over to them, as she shouted, "Wonderboy! Sora! Ven! The coliseum's in trouble! The Hydra's on the rampage again, and Roxas, Donald, and Goofy are fighting it right now!"

"WHAT," every one of the heroes shouted in surprise, while Hades just grinned his malicious grin.

"You see? What did I tell ya," Hades shrugged. "Well, I'd hate to run, but I've got another little diversion to attend to, and it looks like you folks have some bigger problems at the moment."

No one was really paying attention to Hades at that point though, even when he finally poofed away again. They were a little distracted by the fact that their friends and all those people up at the coliseum were currently in danger. None more so than Hercules, who had immediately rushed off to get back as fast as he could, and the three Keybearers were right on his heels in an effort to get up there before something happened to their friends. At this point though, they just had to hope that they were not too late.

* * *

 _'This was probably not our best idea,'_ was the one, reoccurring thought Roxas had been having since he, Donald, and Goofy had gotten to the coliseum. You see, the minute he and the others had reached the threshold of the Underworld's exit, they could already hear panicked screaming and loud booms of large objects being destroyed, so it was only natural that he told Meg to stay back while he and his two friends checked things out at the coliseum. What they found was not pleasant, as the entire coliseum was in shambles, while all the spectators and civilians were rushing to get away or for a place to hide, and the culprit was none other than the Hydra that Hades had sent for Hercules to fight.

With little time to think, Roxas, Donald, and Goofy quickly sent Meg back the way they came, thinking that one particular area of the Underworld had to be safer than this place was right now, and charged in to attack. It seemed like an easy enough fight for them to handle, and if the speed in which Hercules had gotten to the Underworld after beating this thing before was any indication, then he was sure that the three of them could handle it without any problems whatsoever. That did not stop Phil from shouting out helpful tips and providing some support here and there to disorient the beast every so often, but considering that the pots Phil tossed up for them to slam into the Hydra so that it was left dazed were a bit help, none of them were complaining.

Between Goofy's staunch defense, Donald's magical skills, and Roxas's fast, impressive blade work, it was not long before they had not only beaten the Hydra, but also sliced off its head, leaving its body to drop to the ground. They were sure that it was over by that point, until Goofy remembered something from their time at Marvel Universe; namely, the slogan for a certain villain organization that they helped the Avengers take down before they had left said world. It turned out to be a bit more true than they realized, because right when they were preparing to let Meg know that it was safe to come back, the Hydra's body suddenly twitched, then moved, and then finally sprouted not one, not two, but _three_ new heads from the stump of its neck that was left from when Roxas had sliced off the original one.

"Hey, what's the big idea?! I thought Hydra's were only supposed to grow _two_ more heads when you cut it off," Donald demanded in the midst of his panic and rushing to avoid being chomped up by one of the three heads.

A quick leap and fast swipe of Abyssal Tide and Pain of Solitude allowed Roxas to force at least two of the heads away from Donald, freeing the magician up for a chance to blast the third with a fire spell, and the blonde quickly shouted, "Question the inaccuracy of monster powers later. Blast the actual monster trying to eat us while destroying the coliseum and likely the city later now!"

"Sorry," Donald hurriedly apologized, and he further made up for his temporary distraction by throwing out a blast of lightning along with any other spell he knew to keep the Hydra off of Roxas as the dual Keyblade wielder made his next charge.

Goofy helped Roxas to better get in range of his next targets by allowing the blonde to springboard off his shield, and Roxas was soon unloading the fastest barrage of slashes and slices he had ever managed up until now on the Hydra. Each of his attacks met their mark, but that was both good and bad in this case, because even though all of Roxas's attacks ended up severing another head, another set of three heads had grown from the stump of the head that had been cut off, until eventually, the three friends were met with the horrifying sight of a monster that had a countless number of heads, all snarling down at them with evil, hideous grins.

"WOULD YOU STOP WITH THE HEAD-SLICING THING," shouted Phil right before he ducked out of sight to avoid being snapped up by one of the Hydra's new heads.

"Hey, I'm open to other suggestions if you have any," snapped Roxas before he had to turn and run from another four heads that were now literally snapping at his heels.

Roxas did not have to worry about getting chomped down on for too long, as Goofy soon came in to bat away the attacking heads with his shield. It was just too bad for them that even the mighty captain of Disney Castle's royal knights was not able to hold back the unlimited number of attacks that the Hydra was able to unleash now, and because of that, he was soon blasted away and out of the fight by the Hydra and a massive stream of fire that it was able to unleash upon them. Seeing Goofy being taken out like that spurned Roxas and Donald to take more drastic action, with the magician throwing out even more magic power than before, while Roxas decided to change tactics and follow Donald's lead. The only difference between Donald and Roxas was that the latter was able to throw out spells at twice the speed thanks to his use of two Keyblades. Right after he had fired a fireball at the Hydra, Roxas was able to quickly bring his other Keyblade around to shoot off several shards of ice, and a quick spin around saw him raising his Keyblades up together as he called down a bolt of lightning that was twice as powerful as the normal one since it was summoned with two Keyblades instead of one.

Even with all of this magic being thrown at it, the Hydra was barely even stumbling under their assault. It did not seem to make much difference when Pegasus swooped down to give Roxas a hand by flying him between the heads of the Hydra, enabling him to land several, direct hits on a number of its heads, either, and at this point, the two were beginning to tire out to the point where they were both panting heavily. Donald's weariness ended up getting him in trouble first, as he was the next one to be taken out by the Hydra, and Roxas only managed to get away thanks to Pegasus swooping in to pull him to safety at the last second. The winged horse's bravery was unable to it from also being brought down shortly after though, and Roxas was left to face the beast alone. Still, no matter how heavy his arms felt, how hard he was panting in an attempt to catch his breath, or how drained he felt after using so much magic at once for the first time in a fight outside of training, Roxas was not going to back down after all of that. This thing had already hurt three of his friends, and he would not let that stand.

Phil saw all of this, and while he did find it admirable, he also did not want to see the kid get hurt or worse. "Roxas, don't be crazy! You gotta get out of there! Grab Donald and Goofy if you can and run for it!"

"NO WAY, PHIL," Roxas snapped back. "I'm not going to just stand here and let this thing get away with hurting my friends like that! And besides, I've already done enough running as it is. For as long as I can remember, I've always run to others when things got especially tough. Not this time! This time, I'm ending things on my turns with my own strength! If I always run to others for help, then I can't ever truly become strong on my own!"

Phil would have shouted a counterargument to Roxas's belief, but someone else beat him to it. "And what's wrong with letting others help you," cried the voice of Roxas's sister, making the blonde turn to see Xion herself standing at the coliseum's entrance along with Sora, Ventus, and Hercules. Even though he took note of how upset Hercules seemed to be, and the concerned looks on Sora and Ven's faces, it was the fierce, frustrated one that Xion was sending to him that really had his attention, which was good, because Xion still had more to say to him. "It's only normal for friends to help each other when you ask, Bro. The same goes for family. They give us more strength than anything else ever could. Even if they're not right next to you, they're always watching your back and helping you up when you fall down. You're the one who taught me that, remember?"

Studying his sister's face for a minute enabled Roxas to see just how much belief she held in those words, and he could not help but nod as he said, "I know, Sis, and I do believe that. But still, think about what we've been through. I've been relying on you, on Ventus, on Axel, and even Sora to help me when things got really tough and confusing for the longest time. Every time I've been in serious trouble, someone's always had to come to my rescue at the last second. Not this time. This time, I need to handle it myself!"

Xion was about to rush over so that she could either help her brother or slap him for being so stupid, at least in her mind, when Sora suddenly held her back, much to her surprise. "You need to let him do this, Xion," the Keyblade warrior calmly said. "This is something that he needs to do on his own so he can prove to himself that he can stand on his own when there comes a moment that he needs to. More than that, he needs you to believe that he can handle himself, just like he did for you."

It took a moment for Sora's words to really register in her mind, but looking to her brother and how he was suddenly able to fire off another round of Fire and Blizzard spells from his two Keyblades, Xion could see what he meant. Roxas had trusted her to stand strong without him there to babysit her when they split up before, so now, she needed to trust him to do the same in this fight. He was right in saying that they had always turned to someone else to pull them out of danger when things got tough, so it was only natural that he would feel like he needed to prove to himself that he could hold his own without a safety net of some kind, and for whatever reason, he felt like this was the moment when he would be able to prove that. So, with a heavy heart, Xion finally nodded in acceptance and stepped back, folding her hands in prayer for her brother in the hopes that he would be alright.

Roxas just caught a glimpse of Xion backing down from the corner of his eye, and sent a mental thanks to Sora via the D-Link before he refocused his attention on the Hydra again. Sure, he was out matched, but he was determined to see this through to the end with his own strength. It was now his turn to prove that he could hold his own in a fight without any extra assistance. "Alright ugly, let's finish this," Roxas challenged the Hydra, hardly even noticing how his body had started glowing a little as he spoke.

At first, they all thought that the glow around Roxas's body meant that he was about to unleash his Unique Tier One Command Style like Xion had earlier, but after taking a second look, Ventus noticed something was a bit off. _'That doesn't look like the aura of any Command Style I know of, Unique or otherwise,'_ the blonde master thought. _'If anything, it almost seems like the auras of both Firestorm and Diamond Dust have mixed together. But how's that possible, unless…No, it couldn't be. Could it?'_

Ventus did not have much more time to think on it, as the aura had already settled around Roxas's body, signaling the full activation of the strange Command Style. When it did, Roxas's body was coated with an aura that was half blazing red and half chilling blue, but Roxas barely paid it that much mind and went straight to work. The next time some of the Hydra's heads made to snap at him, Roxas merely swung the Keyblade that shared the fiery half of his aura, and upon being hit, one head had reeled back like it had been burnt, while its maw seemed to have a thin coating of ice on it. That same swing also allowed Roxas to shoot off a large plume of flames that caused them to be frozen in ice. Leaping high into the air, Roxas then brought both blades down on the frozen heads, and smashed them apart, and right when it seemed like some new heads were about to grow in their place, he spun around to swing his other Keyblade at them, releasing several large chunks of ice at said heads that exploded on contact.

Roxas was far from done, as he repeatedly swung the chilly aura's Keyblade at the Hydra, releasing more shards of exploding ice with every swing, and each of those swings were followed with a flourish of his other Keyblade, sending out wave after wave of chilling flames to freeze the heads where they were. Eventually, the Hydra started getting fed up with the confusing results of these elemental attacks, and made to slam its entire body down on Roxas, but Roxas managed to leap clear before it could hit the ground, and right at the same moment when the energy around him surged to full power.

"COMMAND STYLE: ICE FLARE FINISHER," Roxas screamed at the top of his lungs while spinning around with his Keyblades raised for a powerful cross-slash. One swing of his blades, and a powerful wave of freezing fire came hurtling out at the Hydra, freezing its whole body solid after it was encompassed by the blaze, giving Roxas the chance to spin around head over heels as he descended from the air to land one final aerial drop attack on the frozen beast, shattering it into a million pieces when he finally landed and struck it.

Seeing the Hydra defeated and Roxas's aura having finally faded away, the team finally deigned it okay to approach, and while Ventus checked to make sure Donald and Goofy were okay, Xion and Sora were a bit more focused on their brother and his recent accomplishment. "Roxas, did you just…Did you actually combine both Diamond Dust and Firestorm into one Command Style just now," Xion stuttered in surprise.

"Yeah…I think so," Roxas breathed in equal awe, still hardly able to believe he had done it himself. "I don't really know how I did it; it just kind of…happened."

"Whether it was intentional or not, Roxas, you just did something that's never been done before in the history of all Keyblade wielders. Then again, that seems to be something you're making a habit out of," Ventus lightly joked as he joined the group with the rest of their teammates now fully healed.

"Either way, it looks like I was right," Sora cheered, earning him weird looks from everyone. "Oh come on! Don't you guys remember? I'm the one who originally thought of the idea that he could combine two Command Styles together like that, and he just did! I'd say that qualifies as me being right!"

"He…does kind of have a point. I guess," Roxas shrugged, not entirely sure he was willing to give Sora that with how he was already doing a happy dance over the fact. He did know of at least one way to deal with it though. "Too bad you can't use Command Styles while in Valor Form, Sora, or you'd probably be able to make your Destiny Blaze even more powerful than it already is."

Sora deflated a little upon hearing that, but managed to shrug it off pretty quickly. "Ah, no big deal. I'm sure I'll figure out some way to do it eventually, and maybe then, we could do the same thing for Xion's Unique Command Style too."

"Wait, what," Roxas gasped. "Xion, did you…?"

"Mhm," Xion nodded with a proud smile. The next thing she knew she was being pounced on by her brother with a tight, proud hug. "Ah! Not again!"

"Haha! That's my baby sister," Roxas cheered proudly.

"Hey! Who're you calling 'baby sister'? I am NOT a baby!"

"But you're just as cute as one," Roxas could not help but tease, leading to a brief round of playful wrestling between the twins that the others could not help but find entertaining. At least until Ventus brought up a topic that served to bring down everyone's mood.

"Uh…I'd hate to interrupt you guys, but unfortunately, not all of us seem to be coming out of this with good news or high spirits," Ventus told them, pointing over to where Hercules was slumped over by the rubble of what remained of the coliseum.

Looking at Hercules, it was clear that he was not just sitting like that because his weariness had finally caught up with him. There was a very heavy air of defeat sifting around him as well. It was so bad, that it looked like a lot of his color had been lost, right to the point where it was like his usual shine had been dulled into nothing but blackness. From the looks of things, even Meg and Phil's attempts at encouraging and cheering him up were not making much difference, and realizing that immediately drove the team to rush over to his side.

"I can't believe I let this happen," Hercules moaned. "I left everyone unprotected, and now…Hades was right. I'm just a washout."

"Hey, come on, Champ. I didn't train you to think like that," Phil argued.

"Yeah, none of this is on you, Herc. This was all because of Hades's schemes," Ventus added on. "Even we weren't able to do much to stop this, so don't go thinking you can shoulder all the blame on your own."

"But you guys did actually succeed in what you were trying to do. I got sloppy and didn't finish the Hydra off like I should've because I was worried about whether or not you would be able to save Meg without me," Hercules insisted. "I should've just trusted you guys to handle it like I said I would've. Besides that, I was so sure that it was beat when I ran off that I didn't even think to make sure."

"Wonderboy, it's not your fault," Meg assured him. "Even a god would be exhausted after working for as long and as much as you have been, and no one can blame you for being worried about your friends."

"She's right. Besides, if it weren't for you, we probably wouldn't have been able to get Meg out of that trap at all, so don't start thinking you've lost your touch just because of one bad day," Xion encouraged him.

"They're right. Just give yourself some time to rest and I know you'll be back to your old self in no time," Sora agreed with a cheerful smile.

"Besides, it's not like there's gonna be any games for a while, so you won't have to worry about that at least," Goofy added on, hoping that would help bring things into a positive perspective for his friend.

It was hard to tell for sure if anything they were saying was really getting through to Hercules, but he did at least nod in acknowledgment of his friends' words. Thankfully, Meg was able to give them some more solid reassurance. "Don't worry about Wonderboy here. I'll look after him until he's back to normal. Or at least as close to normal as he can get, anyway."

"I guess we'll just have to hold you to that then, Meg," Ventus shrugged, knowing that there was not much else they could do for the moment.

Meg nodded in reply as she said, "Hey, it's the least I can do after all you guys have done for us. I owe you all big time."

"Hey, it's no big deal. Just let us know if Hades or the Heartless start acting up again, and we'll take care of it," Sora promised.

"Yeah, because that's what heroes are for," Donald proudly declared.

While Ventus could not help but smile in amusement, Meg regarded the other members of the Keyblade Legion for a few seconds before she finally asked, "When did you five make hero?"

"Uh…Let's save that for another time. For now, we have to hit the road, right guys," Sora quickly excused.

When the rest of Sora's friends all offered quick agreements, Meg knew that she had them beat on that front this time, but she was willing to allow them that little retreat without any fuss. "Okay then. Don't be strangers, Keyblade Legion."

"No worries there," Ventus promised.

"And I hope ya feel better soon, Hercules," Goofy offered in well-wishing of his friend.

"Yeah…thanks," Hercules sighed, not sounding very optimistic.

When their third friend did not say anything in terms of a farewell, the group all turned to Phil a little expectantly, bringing his mind back from wherever it had wandered to. "Oh, uh, yeah, take care you guys. Stay a little longer next time. We've got some serious training to catch up on."

"You've got it, coach," Roxas laughed with an easy thumbs up.

Right before the team could set out though, Ventus suddenly gasped and said, "I almost forgot." He then retrieved the Olympus Stone from his pocket and held it out to Hercules as he said, "I think you're gonna be needing this back."

Hercules nodded in thanks for that, but just as he was about to touch the stone, it lit up with a faint glow, and then floated into the air. Seeing that particular glow instantly told the Keyblade Legion what was coming next, and no one had a problem with Ventus being the one to take care of the task this time around. Holding out his Keyblade before him, Ventus allowed the tip of his Keyblade to glow brightly, as the image of the badge he wore materialized around him, glowing brightly as a familiar energy surged out from the image's outline. Much like many times before, once the surge passed, Ventus found himself in the strange sky, and he quickly spotted the Olympus Stone in the air before it shot out a beam that dispersed into a Keyhole high above it. Without even thinking, Ventus leapt back a short distance, spun his Keyblade around, and then aimed it at the Keyhole that had appeared, allowing a beam of light to be fired off from its tip the minute he had lined it up with the Keyhole. When the beam connected with the Keyhole, a faint ringing sound reached his ears, over the sound of something being unlocked, just as his surroundings returned to normal.

"And that is that," Ventus determined with a smile.

After exchanging one last round of farewells with their friends from this world, the Keyblade Legion headed off somewhere to signal the Gummi Ship's teleporter to bring them back aboard, eager to see what adventure would be waiting for them on the next world they traveled to. They were still a little worried about Hercules's condition, and about whatever scheme Hades was still cooking up, but for now, they had much bigger concerns to address. They just had to hope that Meg and Phil could get Hercules back into shape soon so that he could handle the ruler of the Underworld without them needing to come back.

* * *

 **Ventus's Journal Entry 3:**

 **I swear, every time I go to visit Naminé and see how her work on restoring Sora is going, the more I can feel my dislike of DiZ grow. It's like the guy's mind is hardwired into making him think that only his ideas and opinions are right while everyone else is either wrong or just in the way of his vendetta, and it's very obvious that he's only helping us for just that: a vendetta. I don't really know what his problem is, other than the fact that it has something to do with the Organization, and honestly, I don't really care that much for it. So long as it gets Sora, Donald, and Goofy back to their old selves, and doesn't bring any harm to Roxas, Xion, or Naminé, I can…try to manage. I'm not making any promises though, because he's very likely to try something on the latter three any day now. I can just feel it.**

 **Speaking of things I've been getting a feeling about, lately, I can't help but think that he and Naminé are getting help from someone besides me. Someone else who knows about other worlds and the Organization. Don't ask me who it could be, because I don't have many ideas. Okay, that's a lie; I do have a couple ideas, but some of them are a little far-fetched. One idea is that it's Leon and the gang from Radiant Garden, but I've paid a visit to said world a few times in between spying on the Organization and keeping an eye on Roxas and Xion, and it doesn't look like they've found any way to leave the world again since all the old highways between worlds were closed. I suppose I could help out with that, but all the paths I know of are only accessible via Keyblade Glider, so that's a no-go. The other idea is that it could be Sora's friends from the islands, but the one time I went there has me convinced that isn't the case. From the look of things, Kairi's been keeping to herself a lot lately, and the others have been trying to keep the blonde kid, uh Tidus, I think his name was…You know, the one who clearly had a thing for Yuna? Anyway, they've been trying to keep him from getting to depressed about being separated from her, so I doubt they've been trying to so much as find another way to go to other worlds, let alone actually doing it.**

 **That just leaves one other option: Mickey, Aqua, and Riku. Now, this is the one that I feel is the biggest stretch, because last I checked, those three were still trapped in the Realm of Darkness, and I haven't heard or sensed anything that would indicate that they've found a way out. Then again, considering that there are two Keyblade masters on the case, and all that Riku had become able to do after gaining those dark powers of his, maybe it isn't that much of a stretch to say that they're the ones helping DiZ. Or maybe I'm just hoping for something because of how much I miss Aqua. I don't really know. Besides, I only got this idea because on one of my observations of Roxas and Xion, I overheard them talking about the latter tracking down an Organization imposter, or something like that. I don't know why anyone would want to pose as one of those creeps though.**

* * *

 _ **AN: Okay, wow. Just wow! How does he do it?! How does this artist of writing and words manage to string together such an incredible work like this into such beauty, and give it life in a way that's just too...Oh, wait. Why am I asking these questions? The writer's me!**_

 _ **Ventus: Did...Did you seriously just forget that you were the one who wrote all of this?**_

 _ **Sora: Maybe we should call somebody to test his sanity.**_

 _ **AN: Hey, hey, hey! No, there's no need for that! I was just joking! Geez! Ahem, let's move on shall we. Today's matters of note are pretty obvious if you ask me. First and foremost, in terms of the most memorable are definitely the newest Command Styles belonging to Roxas and Xion. First off, yes, Xion has now in fact unlocked her Unique Tier One Style. When I was coming up with it, I thought of going with something that reflected the way Xion was created, but I figured that would be something that's better suited to either a Shotlock or a Tier Two Command Style, so I scraped that idea. Then it occurred to me that I could try to better play up her nature as a balanced-type of fighter, and thought back to some of the stylings of Aqua's Spellweaver powers. That seemed like something that could be applicable to Xion, so add a few little change-ups here and there, give it her own personal flare, and BOOM! We've got Magic Tapestry. Not bad, am I right?**_

 _ **Xion: Yeah, plus it's a better name than some of these other ones. [everyone turns to see her flipping through a booklet labeled, "Ideas for Keyblades Unleashed Series"] I mean, "Memory Page", or "Recollection Charms"? Those kinda suck as far as names go, and the mechanics don't really seem to line up that well. I do like the name "Memorabilia Stars" though. I can definitely see that as a Shotlock or a Command Link power for me later on.**_

 _ **AN: What the-?! How did you-?! Gimme that! [Snatches the booklet away] Seriously, how do you guys keep getting these things? I swear I had them put under tight lock and key after the last time I caught Roxas with one of them.**_

 _ **Roxas: Speaking of, I'm kinda surprised you didn't give me my Unique Command Style in this chapter.**_

 _ **AN: Eh, I was a little tempted, but I figured that this would be a better time to emphasize just how much more powerful/different you were from the typical Keyblade wielder: because you have the power to combine two Command Styles into one. I'm thinking of calling it these abilities Dual Styles! Or Double Styles. Either way, it'll have either Dual or Double in the name.**_

 _ **Sora: Why not Double Command Style or Dual Command Style.**_

 _ **AN: I think you just answered your own question.**_

 _ **Sora: Yeah, I did the moment I said it out loud. Way too much of a mouthful, and we've already got enough of those with the Unique and Tier One and Tier Two Styles.**_

 _ **AN: Anyways, regarding this first Dual Style (that's looking like the most likely name for now), Ice Flare, if you've seen Ben 10 Ultimate Alien, then you've probably seen Ultimate Big Chill in action. This is basically allowing Roxas to gain abilities similar to that alien's in that he's got a fire so cold it burns, while at the same time, being able to shoot off ice shard that pack an explosive and burning punch. I do intend to have Roxas gain a couple more Dual Style abilities as time goes on, if I can figure out all the mechanics for how each of them would work, but whether or not those Dual Styles include a way to mix his Unique Command Style with the others is still pretty high up in the air. Most likely not gonna happen, but at the same time a little tempting all the same.**_

 _ **Oh, and yeah, once Sora or any of the others get a Drive Form he can use Command Styles in, Roxas will probably try to teach them how to use the Dual Styles as well, since I know some of you are probably going to ask about that.**_

 _ **Moving right along, let's talk about Roxas's recent memory recovery. Of course, he was going to get some things back after seeing Phil again, and I figured I'd show you guys a little glimpse of just how things went down for him this time around. Not much change from 358/2 Days though, right? The only real change was some of the later dialogue that was shared between the two on Roxas's last trip to the Coliseum.**_

 _ **The next matter is regarding Demyx. Seems like there's at least a bit of friendliness between him and our favorite pair of twins, right? Too bad they don't remember enough to be able to know for sure if he's telling the truth or not. Are his claims true, or just a ploy to hide how dangerous he really is? More to the point, it seems like he wasn't in the know on how the Organization had initially reacted when Roxas and Xion left, huh? But then again, he doesn't really seem like the type who would be informed of important details until much later on when it becomes necessary for him to know, which is pretty late in the game, even in canon. I'm not trying to intentionally bash on Demyx here, but the guys just...yeah, he's...well...It's Demyx. Really puts into perspective on why he was the perfect person to serve as the spy who got Roxas his new body in KH3, huh?**_

 _ **I think the only other thing to mention would be the Keychains we saw today. I look back at the last story, and I see that while I did mention Sora getting some additional Keychains, he only ever really used two or three. Metal Chocobo, Oathkeeper, and Oblivion. This time around, I do want to at least mention them using other Keychains, which you kinda have to do since the Drive Forms are involved, so today, we saw them using other Keyblades. Just to be clear, most of the group will be back to using their standard Keychains by next chapter, and for the most part, you should assume that they are using their standard Keyblades unless I say otherwise or mention the blades by their specific name.**_

 _ **Speaking of which, how do you guys think Roxas and Xion's old Keychains are getting spread around in different worlds like this, hm? I mean, this is now the third time that they've found one such Keychain on a different world, and the second time that it ended up on said world under mysterious circumstances. How could that be though? Well, like the story said, it's just one mystery after another on this adventure, isn't it?**_

 _ **Oh, and there's also the matter of Sora's new, original Keyblade: Excelsior. You might remember it pretty well since he just got it a couple chapters ago. If you have a hard time picturing it, just think of a Keyblade with the guard of Dawn till Dusk, the blade of Nano Gear, and all colored in the stylings of Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor, with Mjolnir's head serving as the teeth, and an ARC reactor in the middle of the blade. I'd draw it out for you guys to see, but...well, you know.**_

 _ **Finally, we see a Keyblade from Ven's collection, and its his own version of the BBS Keyblade that you earn after visiting Olympus Coliseum. Not surprising huh? Just to be clear, among Ven's collection of Keyblades, you'll also find each of the ones you can only get as Ventus in the same game, plus Treasure Trove, Sweetstack, and Hyperdrive. Keep it here for a little later on when I try to give you all a full listing of all the Keychains each wielder has. I've been doing my best to keep track, I assure you, and I don't want you guys forgetting any time soon either.**_

 _ **Speaking of Ventus, it looks like we've got another entry from his journal today, and if you couldn't tell, it basically details the moment when Ventus started noticing he wasn't the only one helping out Namine and DiZ. Yeah, that would be indicative of the moment when Riku first joined in to help get Sora and the others back to normal, and it doubles as a little way of showing that Ventus truly did not know about Riku's involvement in things until that moment that we talked about in the final chapters of the Summer Vacation Arc.**_

 _ **Well, I think that covers everything, aside from mentioning the sweet little sibling moments between Sora, Roxas, and Xion that we got to enjoy, along with how we also worked in a reference or two in this chapter, so let's get to some review answers, shall we?**_

 _ **Starting things off is a response to "SuperSayainFever" from our lovely Xion.**_

 _ **Xion: Awww [smiles cutely for the compliment] Ahem, first off, I wouldn't bet on me putting an end to the teasing any time soon. Besides, there's no way the others are ever going to find me being as obvious about any love interest I may or may not take up at any point, so I don't think I've got much to worry about.**_

 _ **AN: Riiiight. [winks knowingly at the audience] Anyways, "Dragon Rider 66", I haven't really had the chance to look into the newest season of Clone Wars yet. I've been a bit busy with my writing stuff, the special project I recently mentioned, and, if I'm being honest, playing through Final Fantasy 7 The Remake. Great game, beautiful visuals, and in short, something everyone should check out if they haven't already.**_

 _ **"Hamm1999", I'm not entirely familiar with any of the games made by this Valve company you speak of, and even if I was, I wouldn't bet on seeing any crossovers with them from me any time soon. I've already got enough ideas that I'm going to want to do when I'm not swamped with stories/series, or just able to start on something else without feeling overwhelmed again. Sorry, buddy.**_

 _ **"Monkey D. Conan", one of our favorite regulars, my man! First off, in answer to your question about Roxas's fear of ghosts, that will be something of a genuine sub-plot for a little while, and we will get a little more into it when we get to Halloween Town. Also, I have made a decision on Roxas's form for that world, and I've got a pretty solid idea of what I'll be making Xion's. I know I heard a pretty good idea for the one that Aqua could have while on that world, but I can't quite remember what it was off the top of my head. As for the matter of summons, there will be a couple from the original KH2 canon that appear here, but since I'm planning to give at least one or two summons to each member of the team, you can bet that there will be plenty of original ones in there as well. Some you may find familiar, others probably not, but there will be some new ones in here. Also, in regards to the matter of including Tidus a bit more at least, there's already a plan in mind for him and the rest of the Destiny Islands crew; don't worry about that, but we won't be seeing any more details on that for a little while longer.**_

 _ **"SuperSonicBros123"...well, I guess I already answered your question with the last response, but I'll say it again anyway. There is a plan for Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie, but we won't see much on what it is until later on.**_

 _ **"Haxorus Knight", not right this second. I only really did that last gag because I had the Ninja Turtles on my mind, but you never know. It could be something we see sometime soon, or at least in Beyond the Worlds. **_

_**Next on the list is "yuutojaden", and holy crap! You've got a lot of questions. Okay, let's just take it one at a time then, assuming I can answer them without giving away any big spoilers. Ahem, whether or not Sora gets the Masters Defender Keyblade is a little up in the air right now, especially since Aqua's using it as her main Keyblade right now. I do believe that this chapter has answered the question of whether Roxas or Xion would be getting some of their own Command Styles sometime soon (at least partially). Roxas's actual Unique Tier One Style may be another chapter or so, but at least you've got this new version of Command Styles from him. Kairi will be learning some Command Styles, as we saw in the last story. At this point, it's kinda becoming a requirement for the whole team to at least learn the basic three. Namine getting a Keyblade and learning those powers though...you'll just have to wait and see on that. Yes, Sora will be getting all of his Drive Forms. There will be at least one other new world added into this story, that being the Star Wars world, but there may be another one too. And there will be a collaboration style between Roxas and Xion. Ventus and Sora is a bit of a maybe, but is probably pretty likely too.**_

 _ **"Spiderfan626", sorry, but I don't really have any plans to include the original worlds from the previous stories in this one right now.**_

 _ **"Guest" of 3/16/2020, there's a good chance you may see such a parent look(s) in the future, but again, it's a case of wait and see.**_

 _ **"fangs of death", yes, Tidus and Yuna will have a reunion soon. I'm hoping to make it at some point in this story at the earliest, but we'll just have to see how the cards are played there.**_

 _ **"Guest" of 3/18/2020, who asked those questions about my opinion regarding how KH3 could be more interesting if Sora had been revealed to be secretly jealous of Riku for being named a true Keyblade master...first off, that last thing you mentioned, we're trying to avoid any peeks into a Kingdom Hearts version of the Injustice Series. But in all seriousness, I'll admit that there are a few times when I feel like Sora may have been secretly jealous, or at least masking his disappointment with that whole thing, but in all honesty, no, I don't really think too much would change. Even if he is jealous of Riku, or anyone in general, Sora's still Sora, because he's just that kind, cool, pure-hearted guy, and the canon series just more than likely wouldn't feel right if that changed. Sure, it's cool to see stories like the ones I've written or others where Sora undergoes some small change from how he normally is, but he's still the same old Sora at his core in most of them too, so...Yeah, there's your answer on that.**_

 _ **"Guest" of 3/18/2020 who commented on Hades recognizing Sora; technically he did, he just didn't really get a chance to comment/act on it before like he did in this chapter.**_

 _ **"Guest" of 3/26/2020 who asked about the moment between Roxas and the Samurai Nobodies from an earlier chapter, there is a chance that one or two of the others may notice if and when they run across the Samurais again, but it won't be for a little while when that happens.**_

 _ **"Guest" of 4/5/2020, regarding your first question, you're pretty close in your guess, but not quite accurate. Otherwise, I'm not saying anymore than that. I'm not giving away any spoilers regarding Dreamer's Challenge right now. Or at least, I'm going to try avoiding them until we get closer to said story. As for your question about the events that unfolded at the end of Keyblades of Future Past and if they would be mentioned in an epilogue of this series' version of KH3, there is a very good chance of that, yes, but it is also just as likely that they'll be mentioned at the start of Beyond the Worlds as well. So there's that.**_

 _ **"Guest" of 4/8/2020, as you've probably noticed, Ven did not get a chance to mention Zack to Herc and Phil, and that's mainly because he was focused on their current task. It will come up later on, namely on the second trip to this world, but not in a direct way. You'll see what I mean when we get there.**_

 _ **"Guest" of 4/10/2020, I've actually been having a bit of a hard time of coming up with an idea for Kairi's Sleeping Worlds attire, so I'm actually pretty thankful for that suggestion you proposed. It's not a bad idea, and I may just run with it once I've gotten a few details worked out on just what it would look like. Thanks for that.**_

 _ **And finally, I'll turn it over to Donald and Goofy for the last review answer. Namely the review left by the "Guest" of 4/19/2020. Fellas...**_

 _ **Donald: Thank you. Ahem, I suppose in a way, yes, Della probably would be a KH equivalent of a White Mage, assuming she shows up in this series. She's pretty cool with me and Daisy dating. And as far as the details on Della herself in regards to this story, well...I don't know. lyoko Prime hasn't really told me much about how that would be in comparison to the Ducktales series yet.**_

 _ **Goofy: As for me, I think lyoko Prime's got it set up so that my full name is what it normally is in most series. And don't worry about how my reunion with Maxie will go. You may be in for a nice surprise when that comes up again.**_

 _ **AN: Couldn't have said it better myself. Now then, with everything regarding review answers and chapter details out of the way, it's time for us to move Onto the Preview!...**_

 ** _It has been confirmed: Maleficent is back! Even worse, she's somehow begun a slow take-over of Disney Castle! With her home facing such danger, Queen Minnie sends out a distress call to the Keyblade Legion, and the team doesn't hesitate to get there as fast as possible to try and help out. A little extra assistance from Merlin sends the team on what could possibly be their wildest and wackiest trip yet. Too bad they can't call it the most colorful as well, because the place they end up to find the solution is literally all black and white! Just what other kinds of craziness can the Keyblade Legion expect when they return to Donald and Goofy's home? And what sort of rewards will await them in the end? The only way to find out is to ride the rivers of timeless classics, next time!_**

 ** _Oh yeah. Things are getting pretty wild and cartoony next time around, but what more would you expect when visiting the world that's home to Mickey Mouse and his pals? Hope you all enjoy that chapter when it comes out, but until then, I shall simply bid you ado and say..._**

 _ **Please read and review, and see ya real soon!**_


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